Many Forms of Sacrifice
by JustAnotherGirlInTheWorld
Summary: Five years after her coronation, Elsa is ruling over Arendelle without a hitch. But what happens when she gets a message from the trolls, warning her about an impending attack from a supernatural enemy? How does she react when she realizes that their powers are much more dangerous than her own? Can she save herself, her sister, and her village... or is one of them doomed for good?
1. The Message

**Hey there! Thanks for clicking on my story :). Officially, it's supposed to be a sequel to the fanfiction 'Ice Princess' that I wrote about Elsa's childhood, but those of you who didn't read that will still be able to understand this perfectly, as I'll only make a few references to it (which you can easily ignore). All you really need to know about that fanfic is that it paints Elsa's childhood in a much darker light. Any mention to her parent's being 'bad' people or to an OC named Benson will just be a reference to that first fanfiction, so feel free to just overlook it.**

**Anyway, this fanfic is going to almost be like a sequel to 'Frozen', to be honest. It takes places a few years after and is about Elsa defending her kingdom from a certain supernatural enemy, though there will be many complications along the way. It's going to be a bit more action-y than I'm used to writing, but also very emotional, which is something I like to think I'm good at. There shouldn't be TOO many chapters (maybe five or six) and just warning you now, I have a tendency to write things very dark and gruesome, so look out for that in the future. I've been having a pretty busy summer, too, so my updating schedule may be a little crazy. Hopefully it'll all turn out okay, though.**

**Well... enjoy, I guess! I hope you like my story!**

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_Chapter One: The Message_

"Happy five-year anniversary, Elsa!"

For a girl who slept in until noon every-other day, Anna seemed awfully cheery this morning. Pulling herself up from bed, Elsa stretched the exhaustion from her body and then moved her hands automatically to the heavy, white braid atop her shoulder. She could feel the frizz tickling her fingers, and in one swift move she had pulled her hairband out, allowing it all to flow messy and free down her back.

"Haaugh…" Elsa yawned, squeezing her eyes shut and putting a hand over her mouth. "W-What anniversary? I'm not married."

She was talking exceptionally casual and tired-like this morning, and given the formalities of her title, it was not something she'd consider doing very often. But then again... this was _Anna _she was with. Somehow, Anna was different than the rest of the world; Elsa could be human around her.

Acting as her usual playful self, Anna giggled and threw herself down on the bed, tackling her sister back onto her pillows. Elsa would've asked her why she awake this early, but considering she already knew the reason, that would've been a waste of breath. Ever since Kristoff had decided to deliver his ice on Friday mornings, Anna had made quite sure that she was awake to greet him each time he arrived, her smiling face there to warm him up after trudging endlessly through the cold mountains. It would've been quite a sweet gesture, had the girl not insisted upon also walking her sister up for company.

"Five years since your coronation… duh! It's your five year anniversary of being queen!"

Elsa sat up again and knocked her sister to the floor, who landed with a heavy grunt. Elsa looked down at her and saw the girl's signature red braids splayed out on either side of her head, circling her face in a way that appeared almost comical. She suppressed a mischievous smile.

"Then that means it's also my five year anniversary of almost-permanently freezing the entire kingdom of Arendelle. How fun; let's celebrate!"

She stood up for real this time and went to her closet, peering in and trying to decide between wearing one of her un-meltable ice dresses, or one made of regular cloth. She eventual zoned in on a nice, simple blue gown that she hadn't worn in a while and made to take it out of the closet.

"Oh, you're so _pessimistic_," Anna exclaimed, peeling herself off of the floor like a giant pancake. "It's so annoying."

Elsa laughed as she pulled off her nightgown, her next words slightly muffled by fabric.

"You only think that because you're practically the biggest, most-reckless optimist in the kingdom."

"I'm not reckless!"

"Try saying that to your ex-fiancee, Prince Hans."

"OH MY GOD, IT'S BEEN FIVE YEARS ALREADY! WILL YOU STOP BRINGING THAT UP!?"

Elsa laughed even louder as she slipped on her dress, feeling it hug her curves and dance around her mid-calves just the way she liked it.

"I'll stop once I find something _better_ to tease you with."

"Ugh," groaned Anna loudly, throwing back her head in exasperation. "You're always such a—hey! Wait a second! Don't wear that!"

"Huh?" Elsa looked down at her dress, surprise evident in her voice. "You don't like it?"

"No, it's fine, it's just that… today's special! It's your anniversary, so you should wear you _first_ dress."

"My coronation dress?" Elsa asked. "That one was so stuffy… and even if I wanted to wear it, how can I? The cape is still floating around somewhere in the North Mountains."

"No, no, the coronation dress doesn't count! I mean your first ice dress. That really pretty one!"

At this, Elsa laughed again. Somehow, whenever Anna was near, Elsa always found herself laughing.

"Anna, I love that dress, but do you realize how scandalous it is? Low neckline, tight waist, giant _slit_ near my legs… a queen just can't _wear_ something like that on a business day!"

"But—"

Elsa quickly ran a comb through her hair, redoing her signature braid in the mirror.

"Sorry, but I got a lot of documents to sign and fill-in today. Don't have time to indulge your every whim. Have fun with your mountain boyfriend."

"Elsa, you better not—!"

Too late. Elsa was already walking out of her bedroom, leaving a still floor-ridden Anna behind her. She smiled to herself at the muffled sound of her sister's protests. Surely, as she always did, Anna would visit her private study to have lunch with her this afternoon. By then, her mind would be full of some funny story about Kristoff or Olaf, and her entire dress-plea would be lost and forgotten in the back of her brain. Her sister, as impulsive and cheery as she always was, was just the type of person to _do_ something like that. It was why Elsa loved her so much.

Five minutes later, the queen was settling herself down at the desk in her study, getting ready to begin a day of… well, being queen. She looked over a certain mountain of paperwork before her and sighed heavily to herself. After five years of experience, she could honestly say that being royalty wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Sure, as a princess Anna always seemed to be having fun, but Elsa as a queen? It was just a whole lot of work, and not so much play. Of course her people loved her despite her differences, and she felt a whole lot happier than she ever had as a small, lonely child trapped alone in her room… but still. Sometimes, though she'd never admitted it, Elsa just wished she didn't have to be a queen.

_Selfish_, the woman reprimanded herself as soon as the thought had crossed her mind, biting her lip in punishment. _If you don't do it, Anna will have to, and you know how much it would kill her to have all this responsibility. You work so Anna can have fun. You work so Anna can live life. You work so Anna can be happy, and that's that._

Elsa sighed and sat herself right back behind her desk, taking out a quill and dipping it ever gently in a half-used bottle of ink. There was also the fact that, without her as queen, Arendelle would fall to anarchy and crumble… so of course it was very important that she kept it up. Who cared if she didn't get to do a lot of hanging out with sister? It was just a sacrifice that had to be made, and honestly, she was proud to be the one making it. For Arendelle. For Anna.

After that, Elsa spent the next fifteen minutes trying to find the right way to word a letter to a neighboring kingdom, telling them as politely as possible to stop trading them rotten apples masked as fresh one's. She was just at the point of suggesting possible ways for them to preserve their fruit when a sharp sound rang into her ears and shocked her from her work.

_Knock. Knock. _

The quick, polite tapping shattered the silence in the air, pulling Elsa from her mind and placing her back in reality. The queen raised her head from the array of papers scattered across her desk, glancing towards the door at the end of her study.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Who was that? It couldn't be Anna, surely; the girl hadn't knocked in years. That was more Elsa's fault than anything, considering she had insisted on keeping an open-door policy with her, but still. The girl didn't have to barge in _all_ the time...

_Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock._

"You may enter!" Elsa heard herself call. Assuming it was one of the guards come to inform her of something, she made sure to keep the formality heavy in her voice.

The door slowly slid open, and in a moment she caught sight of a head full of shiny, black curls.

"Oh, it's just you, Dustin." Elsa quickly went back to a more casual tone, smiling up at the approaching boy. "Anything new?"

He nodded very slowly, his curls bouncing slightly on his head.

"I-I just wanted to inform you that those trade agreements you were waiting for came in from Corona today, Your Majesty."

"It's about time," Elsa responded, pulling the documents from his hand. "Thanks."

She looked at him for a moment before adding, "But call me Elsa, please."

She didn't know why she kept insisting that to people—surely, it wasn't the most important problem to address—but she simply couldn't help herself. She hated the formalities of her many titles, and Dustin had been her closest-advisor for nearly three years, now. She practically trusted him with everything, and that included her own life. She would've hoped, at least, they would be on first-name terms by this point. Elsa kept reminding him of this, yet somehow the nervous little guy kept forgetting.

"Yes, sorry… Elsa."

There was silence for a little while after that. Elsa mulled over her thoughts for what could've been the thousandth time that week, while Dustin just stood and watched her, as if waiting for command.

Dustin, himself, had just recently reached his twenty-fourth birthday, making him two years younger than Elsa. He was gangly in stature—enough so that he was a bit taller than her—but his wide-eyed, innocent appearance allowed him to pass for a teenager if need be. She remembered the day she had hired him with great nostalgia, and for a moment, allowed herself to dwell on that memory.

The news that the queen was searching for a new advisor—after the retirement of her father's old one—must have spread like wildfire, for on that certain week, it had seemed to her that hundreds upon hundreds of men, woman, and children alike had crowded the castle gates, willing and eager to earn the title. Elsa, as naturally introverted as she always was, had been so overwhelmed with the turn-out that she had had to go to the extremes to sort through it.

First, she had ordered twenty of her castle guards to go and check each person's credentials one-by-one, filtering out all those without any legitimate experience. That, fortunately, had erased about 80% of the competition. She wasn't even sure why people even _bothered _applying for a job if they knew they weren't qualified for it. After that, she had asked each remaining applicant to fill-out a form of information and write a paragraph as to why they deserved to work so close to royalty. She couldn't read them all, of course, so she had asked her guards to sort through them for her, using their best judgement to take out any who they deemed unfit to serve. Finally, the list was narrowed down to fifteen people, and the interviews had started.

Elsa had started the final interview-day knowing it was going to be quite a long one, but her bleak expectations still did not prepare her from the utter torture that occurred during that twenty-four hour period. Time and time again she was greeted with the same, forced smiles. She asked the same, generic questions, received the same, generic answers, and was forced to judge between men and women who were all more-or-less the exact same. The interviews were long and repetitive, and her head was pounding by the time the last had died down.

There were a few applicants who seemed a little off-put by her powers, and some that tried way too hard to act as if they were totally normal (oh, I love how cold it is in here! Did I mention how much I simply adore the snow?) and lucky for her, Elsa could cross those off with ease. Most, however, just tried to avoid the subject completely, which the queen considered at least a tolerable reaction.

Still, the woman had walked out of her office that evening with a massive headache and her eyes itching for sleep.

"Have you decided yet?" Anna had asked eagerly as they had run into each other in the hallways, smile wide and excited as always.

"No… I need to take a walk to think about it," she had told her, shaking her head sullenly. "And before you ask... no, you cannot come along. I love you, Anna, but I need some thinking space, and you can't keep quiet for ten minutes without practically erupting."

The girl had grumbled something after that, a child-like pout on her lips, but luckily she'd let her go off without problems, most likely due to Kristoff's recent explanation to her about what personal space was. That night, Elsa had walked out the gates with ease, a black-hooded cloak draped over herself to conceal her identity. It was something her guards had suggested whenever she went out alone, to prevent assassinations. She only wore it to appease them, of course… she felt she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

It was then, just leaving the safety of her castle home, that the boy had run into her head-on.

"Ouch… oh, sorry! Sorry!"

As Elsa had straightened herself up from the harsh hit, listening to the boy's pleading apology, she had watched as a thick stack of papers in his hands shot out into the air. Almost immediately, he was on his knees, hastily scooping up loose sheets and shoving them into a messy pile. Elsa leaned down to help him, but he raised his hands to stop her.

"No, no. My fault, I'll do it."

"Are you alright?" she had asked him after a moment of silence. "Why were you in such a hurry?"

He didn't even look up at her as he spoke. In fact, if she hadn't known any better, she would've said he was almost too embarrassed to look her in the eyes.

"Um, yeah. Yeah I'm fine. I was just… did you hear about the job opening for the queen's advisor? I know I'm kinda late for that, but I didn't hear about it until earlier today—my grandmother was sick, so I was sort of taking care of her for a few days in Corona. Do you think the queen'll accept applications late? I don't know, I just… I really need the job."

At this, Elsa raised her eyebrows, suddenly extremely interested in what he had to say.

"Oh? And what makes you think you have what it takes?"

At this, very slowly, the boy raised his head to look at her. His arms were full of his miss-mashed assortment of papers, and his cheeks were pink with a mix of shyness and shame. Elsa pulled down her hood a little, making sure it covered her face in enough shadows to disguise her features.

"Well, I don't technically have any _experience," _the boy muttered, eyes flitting towards the ground, "But I've been studying law, and governing, and economics, and all sorts of things since I was a little kid. I mean… I'm not sure if it'll mean anything to her, but I thought I'd at least try…"

His voice trailed off, and soon Elsa found herself smiling. Suddenly so thrilled, so confident, that she was ready and willing to make a complete impulse-based, illogical decision. It was weird, but there was some little voice in the back of her brain that just _knew_ that this boy was it.

"Well, that's enough for me," she'd said, pulling down her hood so that her most recognizable feature—her long, white, ice-incrusted braid—fell onto her shoulder, "You're hired. You start tomorrow."

And she had watched, slight smirk on her lips, as at first Dustin had looked at her with confusion. Then, all at once, the recognition came into his eyes, and his mouth literally dropped open in the most comical of ways.

"_Q-Queen?" _he murmured, as if he'd never even heard the word before, "B-but—"

Elsa liked the way he looked at her. Nervous, but not out of fear. He was only excited to meet her… anxious not because of what she could do to him, but because he wanted so badly to impress her. It was the exact same way Benson had looked at her so long ago… and, now that she thought of it, the way Anna had looked at her on the day of coronation. It was a beautiful look, and Elsa knew suddenly that she had chosen correctly.

"What's your name?" she had asked him, and he, looking completely taken aback, muttered it almost unintelligibly between his lips.

"Dustin. My name is Dustin, Miss."

"Well, see you tomorrow, Dustin. Eight o'clock sharp. Don't be late."

And then she had strode off, smirk still glued to her lips, and she hadn't regretted it since.

Back in reality, Elsa finally spoke up, realizing she'd been staring at the nervous boy too long for justification.

"Did the finance reports come in yet?"

Dustin blinked at her, as if he too had been lost in a swirl of thoughts, before somehow managing to find his tongue.

"No, Your Majest—I mean, Elsa. But they should by this afternoon. I'll get them to you then."

"Ah, thank you. And please, if you find the time, remember to—"

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

"Huh?"

Both Elsa and Dustin stopped talking, turning to the door.

"Who is that?" Dustin asked, horrified that someone would knock so violently on the door of the queen.

She looked at him blankly.

"I have no idea."

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

"Shouldn't you let them in?" Dustin asked timidly, looking at her.

"Yeah," she murmured, "I _guess _so."

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

"The door is unlocked!" she called, slightly annoyed. "You may enter!"

The person knocking flung themselves in immediately.

"Kristoff?" Elsa gasped, staring at him strangely, "What are you doing here? Why are you in such a hurry?"

The blond-haired mountain man didn't seem to be in the shape to answer her. Clutching his side, his breathing was heavy and ragged, and it was clear that he had sprinted to her as fast as humanly possible. He struggled to get out a sentence between his gasps.

"Ghuahh… Elsa… Ghuahh… the trolls… Ghuahh… they said… Ghuahh… to get you… Ghuahh… emergency…"

"The trolls need me?" Elsa translated. She raised an eyebrow at this. The last time she'd spoken to the trolls was… well, when she was a little girl. Anna had certainly seen them plenty of times before, being that they were her boyfriend's relatives, but herself? She hadn't so much as said a single word.

"Ghuahh… that's what… Ghuahh… they said."

"Why?"

"Ghuahh… no… Ghuahh… idea."

"Dustin!" she said immediately, turning to him and ignoring the panting blond. "What does my schedule look like today?"

Dustin checked.

"Nothing but a meeting at noon, Elsa."

"Well then cancel it. We're going to visit the trolls instead."

"_We're_?"

Yes, we're. Fifteen minutes later, Kristoff was sitting anxiously on Sven, waiting to lead Elsa to his adoptive family. As quickly and efficiently as she could, the queen saddled herself onto her black horse, Flame—named ironically, of course—and prepared herself for the trot.

"Dustin," she said slowly, as the boy fed the hungry mare an apple for the journal. "Why don't you follow us? I'm just going to have to explain to you everything that happened, anyway. It'll be easier if you just came with."

He looked up at her. "I don't have a horse."

She shrugged. "That's alright, just hop on the back of mine. You can grab my waist for support."

At these words, Dustin's cheeks turned a bright pink, and fear crossed his face. Elsa greatly misinterpreted the expression.

"Oh," she said slowly, looking at him. "I know my powers can be intimidating. You don't have to touch me if you don't want to. Just hang on to Kristoff, instead."

At this, Dustin's fear turned to absolute horror, and he immediately tried to contradict her statement.

"No, no! It's not that at all! You don't understand, I just—"

He looked at the queen's expression and remembered she was in a hurry.

"Oh… I'll just get on, then."

In another fifteen minutes, the three were already rushing fast and furious under the scalding summer sun, all but Elsa beginning to sweat viciously. They galloped past tall, branching trees, wide, flower-filled fields of grass, and sweetest of all, a group of young Arendelle-children who all cheered as they witnessed the queen flying past. Still, despite this beautiful scenery, nobody was disappointed when the troll-kingdom became visible in the distance, and they were able to dismount their horse and reindeer.

"Kristoff," Elsa asked as they half-walked, half-ran to the suspicious pile of actually-living rocks, "Are you sure they didn't tell you anything about why they needed me?"

"Not a thing," the blond boy answered honestly. "As soon as I stopped by this morning, they just pushed me right back on Sven and demanded I go get you. I tried to ask, but they were persistent. If there's one thing I learned after all of my childhood, it's that you don't argue with trolls."

Elsa nodded and continued her swift striding. She was, admittedly, quite pleased that Kristoff had started talking to her so casually in the last year or so. When they'd first met, he'd been absolutely terrified. And, really, who could blame him? She _had _frozen an entire kingdom and nearly killed the girl he loved, after all. Once he got over that heart-wrenching fear, however, finally trusting that she was a good person, he was continuously nervous and bumbling about the fact that she was queen, always trying to act so polite and respectful around her. It was only recently that he'd begun to treat her like just another person, just another friend, and though she strongly suspected that Anna had prodded him to act this way, she couldn't help but be just a little bit proud of it. It made her feel like such a normal person.

"Hey! Get up, you guys! I brought Elsa just like you said!"

Kristoff ran forward to the rocks scattered on the ground, turning a few of them over and speaking without response. In a moment, however—as soon as Elsa's name was mentioned—they all unrolled to reveal the short, stout figures of the trolls.

"She's here!" one of the little one's shouted in a voice unbelievably high-pitched. "The queen is here!"

They all started to cheer and scream, a thousand voices speaking to her at once, and Elsa found herself subconsciously reverting back to her reserved, teenage self. She smiled shyly at them all, trying hopelessly to fight her way through the crowd of overexcited trolls and get back to where she could stand safe and alone in a patch of un-intimidating grass.

Kristoff, also being a natural loner, must of sensed her discomfort, for he shouted out, "Hey! Guys, come on! I know you're only trying to be friendly, but give her some space, will ya'? She's the queen!"

It was a sweet gesture, really, but a useless one. A couple of the younger trolls jumped to hug the blond man, and with his attention focused on trying to keep himself standing under their weight, he could not continue his stern reprimanding.

One troll—a female wearing a necklace of pink jewels—even grabbed Elsa's hand, tugging her along somewhere and speaking in an almost-motherly tone of voice. Like an obedient puppy, Dustin followed the two of them, not knowing what else to do.

"Oh, Pabbie will be so relieved to see you," said the mother troll, smiling up at her in a way that put her heart at ease. "He's been waiting, you know. What a good little boy my Kristoff is, bringing you here! He sure is quick. Especially when you tell him that it's a matter of life and death."

She leaned backwards towards Elsa and cupped a hand around her mouth. "That part may or may not have been a little-white lie…"

Elsa was just about to respond when suddenly another voice cut her off, this one much deeper and more serious.

"Ah, My Queen. I am glad to see you have received my message."

She looked over. There below her, looking up with wise and meaningful eyes, was an old troll that still lived in the very back of her memory. With thick, straw-like hair surrounding his face like a mane, two extremely-bushy eyebrows hanging over his eyes like fuzzy caterpillars, and a necklace of glowing, yellow crystals placed round his neck, he wasn't exactly a forgettable creature.

"Pabbie," Elsa began, remembering the name that Anna and Kristoff used to refer to the troll-king as. "It's good to see you again."

As she spoke, she suddenly realized that all the other trolls had been silenced by Pabbie's presence. They all stood still, at the moment, watching the two converse with wide and curious eyes.

"As much as I'd like to exchange pleasantries, Your Majesty," Pabbie continued, clearly unaware that she despised the title, "I do have a certain message of importance that needs to be shared with you. In _private_."

He glanced at the many eavesdropping trolls, and a few of the younger one's giggled in mischief.

"Now, if you and your assistant would just follow me, we'll be able to begin our talk in no time. The rest of you must stay."

Elsa and Dustin nodded, and the two of them began walking forward as they heard the many disappointed sighs and grunts from behind.

"I'll just… uh… stay back here and watch 'em, I guess," Kristoff said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'll make sure no one follows you. You can have some privacy."

"Oh, no Kristoff," Elsa said suddenly, stopping on the spot. "You're a friend. Whatever Pabbie needs to tell me, I'm sure he'll have no problem telling you, too. You're the one who spent all that effort trying to get to me… there's no need to keep any secrets."

At this, Kristoff smiled, and she saw real affection in his eyes. "Thanks."

Five minutes later, all four were situated under a canopy of trees, specks of sunlight creeping in through the leaves and creating a beautiful patch-work affect against the grass. Un-formal as it was, there were no seats here, and Elsa ended up sitting cross-legged on the grass across from Pabbie. Dustin and Kristoff both stood behind her on either side, and she sensed their apprehension.

"What is this message you were going to give me?" Elsa inquired curiously, now looking at the troll with serious interest.

"Ah, yes… that..." He began to seem very hesitant now, and she noticed that he was looking at her strangely, as if considering something. Finally, much to Elsa's surprise, he hung his head down and sighed, looking to the ground in greatest shame.

"Let me just say, young queen—"

"Call me Elsa, please."

"Then let me just say, Elsa, that I am so, incredibly regretful of what I've done to you."

At this, she felt her eyebrows raise in complete surprise, confusion evident in her expression.

"And what would that be?"

"Years ago," Pabbie continued, voice so gruff and sad, "When your parents came to me with your younger sister, begging me to heal her, I gave them advise of how to raise a child born with powers. You were there, of course, so you know what I said. They were words with the best intentions, but horrific consequences. I never knew that your parents would take things that far…"

His voice trailed off for a moment, and Elsa took it as he chance to speak. "Oh… Anna must've told you, then. About everything they di—"

"When I said that fear would be your enemy, I meant your own fear. Your own self-hatred, shame, guilt… all of it. When you feel these things, your powers get uncontrollable, and that's when dark things begin to happen. I wanted your parents to realize this, so they could help you learn to accept yourself just the way you were. But they did not understand. They _could_ not understand. They thought the fear I spoke of was the fear that others felt towards you, and thus they took all those steps to isolate you from the outside world. Then they did all those horrible things to make sure you stayed that way, and… I'm sorry, Elsa. With all my heart, I apologize. I should've known they were too flawed to understand what I truly meant. I should've taken precautions. But I let them leave with false ideas in their heads, and for that you have suffered greatly. I'm so sorry, My Queen."

Elsa looked at him unbelievably for a moment, and then suddenly found herself smiling in sympathy.

"I'm sure you know better than anyone that drowning yourself in guilt does no good at all. We've all made mistakes that have led to the misfortune of ourselves or others, but that's all in the past now, so we just have to learn to move beyond it. Thank you most sincerely for the apology, though. It means a lot to hear."

Very slowly, Pabbie raised his head to look at her, and there was a smile on his lip-less mouth.

"Ah, Elsa. Wise beyond your years. I have no doubt that you will grow to accomplish even greater things than you already have. Just like your sister, you've got the selfless spirit of a hero."

"Thank you, Pabbie… but certainly this can't be all you've brought me here to tell me, can it?"

Looking serious again, the troll nodded, his mane bristling beneath his chin.

"Clever, too. There is indeed much more to tell, but I'm struggling to find where to begin."

Elsa nodded slowly, remembering the difficulties _she_ faced with telling Anna about her past, and allowed the troll to take some time to find the right words.

"This is not something a human would be able to understand," Pabbie began, his words slow and clear as if speaking to a child. "But I have recently begun… _sensing_ an approaching presence. Quite a hostile one, actually, and it seems to me that your kingdom is the target."

At this, her eyes widened, and Elsa couldn't stop herself from speaking over the shocked gasps from the men behind her.

"You mean to say… attackers are coming to Arendelle?"

Pabbie nodded sadly. The silence was deafening.

"I would say more, but at the current time, I_ have_ no more. For some reason, though this doesn't usually occur, I find myself unable to determine exactly who or what this unknown enemy is, nor what their motives might be. All is still unclear, but I remain hopeful that we'll learn more as the enemy grows closer."

"So this must be a supernatural enemy of some kind, then?" Elsa interjected, her mind reeling in her head. "Kristoff told me that you trolls can detect magic, so you wouldn't be able to sense this enemy if they didn't at least have _some_ sort of powers."

"Unfortunately, yes," Pabbie answered. "I called you here today so that I could warn you as soon as possible of the oncoming battle. More information will come in the near future, but I'm sure, as the brilliant queen you are, you're already planning ways to prepare your kingdom for this attack."

Elsa nodded seriously.

"Yes, of course. Thank you for this early warning; my kingdom and I are in your debt."

The troll-king smiled upon her. "For forgiving my unintentional crimes against you, consider that debt repaid. But, oh, there's one more thing I must mention before you go."

Elsa looked at him curiously, tilting her head to the side.

"And what's that?"

"I have a feeling that_ you _might be their ultimate target."

* * *

**Okay... it's over. What did you think? I'm sorry that it was a bit rushed, and even more so that it was kind of uninteresting. It's basically a prologue, so mainly I'm just setting the stage for the actual events of the fanfic. The next chapter will skip a few weeks and get right to it, so hopefully it'll be less boring.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked it! Please review and tell me your opinions... it would mean a lot to me :). **


	2. The Preparations

**Hey everyone! I know it's been like three weeks since I last updated this story, and I know it isn't really THAT long, but let me just say that I'm still really, really sorry. I've had such a busy summer that I almost forgot. I'll try and do better from now on; please stick with me :).**

**Anyway, before you start reading you really need to look something up. I can't put a link, but it's a drawing on a website called deviantart. It was made by ComickerGirl and is entitled 'Frozen Knights.' What it shows is these three, absolutely amazing armor-designs for Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff. I tried to describe them in my story, but I really didn't do a good job of it, so you should try and search it up to see what it is the characters are wearing in my fanfic. Trust me, you won't regret it; the designs are just the coolest things ever. **

**So, this chapter is about two weeks after the first, and it jumps to the final preparations before the 'battle'. I hope you enjoy it :).**

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_Chapter Two: The Preparations_

"Are you ready, Your Majesty?"

Ready? Ready was a strong word. Here she was, about to lead her first—and hopefully, only—war against possibly the most evil creatures on the face of the earth. How in the world could she know if she was ready or not? She had no idea what to expect. All she knew was that she had to, _needed_ to, defend her kingdom. She was the queen, after all. If she didn't clean this mess up, then she didn't know who would.

"Call me Elsa, please."

Why couldn't Dustin just remember that? He'd been her assistant for years now, and it really was such a simple command. Sure, maybe it shouldn't have been her _prime_ concern at the moment, but she still felt the right to comment on it.

"Yes, sorry… Elsa. Are you ready?"

She merely shrugged at the boy. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

That answer seemed to be about as honest as she could get it. She had prepared non-stop for two weeks for this invasion, for this full-out species war that was bound to end in absolute wreckage for at least one unfortunate group of people. If she hadn't done everything in her ability to assure victory for her small kingdom, then may her father rise from his watery grave to haunt her.

Dustin nodded at her statement, his black curls bouncing slightly as he did so.

"We'll win," he assured her, as if sensing her apprehension. "With you leading us, we're sure to win."

Elsa just shook her head, feeling the way her ice-incrusted braid jumped from her back to rest on her protected shoulder. Being that she was the commander in this certain war, Anna had decided that she needed an outfit to fit the name, and Elsa begrudgingly had to agree. Her dresses, as formal as they were, were not likely to assist her on the battlefield. She had very little practical clothing on hand, of course, so she'd just been forced to get creative and sew one of her own.

She'd used her original coronation dress as a starting point, figuring that she was never going to wear it again anyway. Though she kept the bodice the same, she'd known that the actual hem would prove to be quite the tripping-hazard, and had compensated by snipping the dress to rest somewhere on her upper-thigh. She kept a large strip of the fabric longer than the rest, however, so that it could hang between her legs in the front and back, reaching her knees in length and preserving modesty. To cover her now-exposed legs, she'd shoved on a pair of thin, black pants and stuffed both feet into metal boots. The full-lengths of her arms were already covered by the black fabric of the dress, but she decided it would be useful to put in some extra supports. On one hand, she wore a metal glove designed for fighting. Above that, she had a shoulder-plate made completely of ice, which jutted sharply down her arm to create an air of danger. On the other arm, she had the same jutting ice used for a second glove, and to keep up with the pattern her second shoulder-plate was made completely out of metal. In all honestly, the mishmashing really didn't have any practicality to it… she just liked the style.

Anyway, as luck would have it, Elsa came across the matching cape for her coronation dress when she'd been climbing up the mountain side just a week ago. In nostalgia, she decided to include it in her outfit, cutting it off just above her ankles so as not to cause any hinderance. Add to that the brown belt that strapped a sword to her hip, and another that held a smaller, hidden blade against her back, and no one could accuse her of physical vulnerability of any kind. All in all, the outfit had ended up fairly well-done, and Anna had fawned over it for days.

"You'll do fine," Dustin repeated after his previous words didn't get a response. Elsa raised her head at him, pulling herself out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah… I really hope you're right."

There was a long, heavy silence before reality truly caught up with her, and she remembered what had been on her mind before the boy had so-politely interrupted.

"Where's Anna? I need to speak with her before the invasion."

"I-In your ice palace, I think," he stuttered. "She's getting ready on the second floor. S-She seems really excited for some reason."

Elsa rolled her eyes at the thought, but still with a slight smile stretched across her face. It was _so_ like Anna to treat something as serious as this as a game. Somehow, despite all logic, Elsa found herself loving that little quirk of hers.

"Keep the soldiers in line," she instructed Dustin, waiting for his vigorous nod before continuing. "I'll be back before sunset."

She turned to walk away, but after a moment, thought better of it. Coming to a halt, she brought her hand out in front of her face, and in one sweep of her wrist had created a smooth, icy dove in the palm of her hand. It was so perfectly carved, every little intricate detail accounted for, that it could have been mistaken for an actual bird had the creature's crystal feathers not been glistening so noticeably in the sunlight.

"Watch from above," Elsa whispered to the dove, cupping it in both hands. "Warn me when you see their approach."

At that, she threw the bird into the air, and it began flapping away as fast as it's hollow wings could carry it. She watched it for a second, created two more out of second thought, and then continued on her way.

Before long, Elsa found herself trudging through the fresh layer of snow on the North Mountain, heading towards the both beautiful and intimidating palace of ice that jutted out into the sky. It wasn't a long walk, really—Elsa and Dustin had only just been at the base of the sloping hill, waiting with the first line of defensive soldiers—but the mountain was steep, and by the end of her climb, Elsa's legs were screaming for a break.

The staircase to her castle was lined with guards, but they all moved aside at the mere sight on her, and soon she stood still and watched as the large, icy doors swung open to let her in.

The general life of the place still surprised her. The first time she had created her palace, it had been completely empty. Admittedly beautiful, but just as much lifeless, barren, and cold. Much like herself, actually. It still felt strange to see it nearly bursting to the brims with Arendelle citizens. Mothers and fathers and children: all scared, but relatively happy. It was just so _strange_.

It had been Anna's idea to use this place as a shelter for the citizens, and her own to use it as headquarters for the war preparation. Not like they had much choice, really. The trolls had only warned them of the change two days before the actual invasion—though they'd originally thought that the mysterious creatures were months away from arriving, it turned out that that 'information' had somehow been falsified by the enemy—and Pabbie had claimed it was not possible to defend her kingdom from the beasts in such little time. So, lacking in much choice, Elsa had spent a chaotic twenty-four period carrying out a full-on evacuation of her beloved city, uprooting all people from their homes and moving them to the still-surviving palace on the North Mountains. Here, as the trolls claimed, would take the monsters at least a week longer to reach, which gave the queen just enough time to prepare adequately.

As quick-thinking as always, Elsa had even create a huge, ice-brick wall to surround the mountain and provide some extra protection, but as the trolls had claimed, this would only buy them an hour or two. The creatures had magic of their own. Maybe not as strong as Elsa's, but with the number of them arriving, they'd be able to combine and melt her barrier in no time. Eventually, the battle would have to begin. And Elsa was determined to make it a short one… for, as she believed, the quicker the battle, the less chance of it becoming a full-fledged war. As she was perfectly aware of by now, war was never really a good thing.

"Queen Elsa! Look everyone! It's Queen Elsa!"

The cries began as soon as the woman stepped into the main court of her palace, loud and wild and excited. The people—huddled in blankets with their children, drinking mugs of hot chocolate, warming themselves with hand-made fires—cheered her on with every step, holding out their hands as if begging for her to touch them.

Though their enemies hadn't shown up yet, the trolls had predicted that they would be here by sunset today. The people were getting restless with wait… and yet, they still had complete faith in her. Everywhere she went, now, people were cheering her on and hailing her a hero, as if victory was already guaranteed. She had been thanked more times this week than she could count. She always smiled politely to her admirers, of course, but secretly she wished they'd just wait until she actually _won_ the battle to apply their generous praise. She was starting to feel the pressure a little stronger than she liked.

"Thank you, thank you," Elsa said, gesturing her people to be quiet. "I'd love to stay and chat... but do any of you know where Princess Anna is?"

A few men and women pointed in a general direction, and so Elsa trudged onwards, responding appropriately to the many goodbyes and farewells that people blew in her path.

Elsa found her sister playing a rousing game of kickball with some of the kingdom's smaller children. Kristoff and Sven stood somewhere nearby, leaning against an icy wall and smirking (with carrot crumbs on their mouths, of course), while Olaf's forever-smiling head was currently being used as the ball itself. Figures. Those were her friends, if she ever knew them. She loved them all so much.

"Anna!" Elsa called, and caught off-guard by the sudden use of her name, Anna tripped on Olaf and ran head-on into a few of the children. They all tumbled to the ground, giggling madly, and even Elsa couldn't stop the smirk from playing her lips.

"Hi Elsa!" Anna called out as she pulled herself from the icy floor, cheeks pink from a mix of cold and excitement. "What's up? They here yet?"

Elsa shook her head, and Anna shrugged, a ridiculous smile still stretched across her face.

"Soon, though," Elsa continued, trying to observe the strange tint in her sister's eyes. "Are you still sure you want to go into battle?"

To keep up morale, Elsa had promised her people that she would be fighting right up there beside them. It was a logical decision—not only with her being queen, but the fact that her ice powers were sure to help them all in battle—and yet, it also gave Anna a perfect argument for why _she _deserved to fight, too.

If Elsa could go, then so could she, for it would look selfish for royalty to send their people out to die without sacrificing as much as they could themselves. At least, that was what Anna had claimed, and Elsa knew deep down that she was all-too right. A part of her would always want to protect Anna, she knew—the girl was her only family, her only sister, her only friend—but she understood that in situations such as this, she had to let her make her own choices. The girl was a grown woman, after all, and it was only fair.

Unfortunately, however, that mindset was just one of those things that was much easier said than done.

"Heck yeah!" Anna yelled in response to Elsa's previous question, eyes ablaze with excitement. "I'll defend you 'til the end, you know that!"

The words were sweet, but Elsa merely shook her head, disappointment on her features. "I was hoping you might reconsider, but I guess that was too much to ask for."

Anna's powerful expression became one of sympathy, and soon she had stepped a bit closer, pulling her sister into a weird sort of half-hug.

"Don't worry about it, Elsa. We'll all be perfectly fine. I've never seen anybody work as hard as you have this past week… you're probably the best military planner ever! There's no possible way we could lose!"

Elsa rolled her eyes at the girl's blatant optimism, but a part of her felt a bit better at the warm words. Surely, if fate was as fair as it had proven itself to be, nobody as innocent and kind as her little sister would ever be harmed.

"Well…" she began, lengthening her words as they teetered at the edge of awkwardness, "Are you ready, then?"

Anna nodded eagerly, and this time, so did Kristoff, who had been listening quietly from his spot on the wall.

"Of course!," the girl exclaimed, "You should see how great I am with my bow, and Kristoff has been practicing with his little thingy-ma-jigger all week now! Those demons don't stand a chance against us!"

Just as Elsa had gotten a new outfit for the fighting, Anna had demanded she get the same. She had insisted it be made from her own coronation dress—to match her sister's, of course—and that it be cut around the legs in exactly the same way. There were a few modifications, but it still came out much to the girl's satisfaction.

The bottom, green part of Anna's original dress had faded over the years and become stained by some mysterious, muddy substance that the girl swore she had nothing to do with, and so of course Elsa had be forced to hide it by dying the whole skirt a midnight black. To compensate for the lack of color, Anna wore a long-sleeved, light-green shirt beneath the bodice of her dress, and then a matching green cape that was similar to the winter one she owned and wore often, covering her shoulders and buttoning in the front. Her gloves were a light, brownish-green color, as were the pants she wore under her outfit, and there was a belt around her waist that held an entire pack of arrows to her side.

Anna now pulled out her hand-carved wooden bow from where it hid behind her back, and in an instant had shown off her archery skills by firing one of those arrows into an empty spot on the wall, creating a huge, jagged crack in the ice. She grinned at her accomplishment, and Elsa made a mental note to fix the hole later.

"Great, Anna. But that's only good for long-reigned attacks. What if you get attacked close up? Do you have anything for fighting melee?"

At this, Anna shook her head, suddenly looking a little sheepish. The bow had been Anna's weapon of choice, much as a sword had been Elsa's, but like most decisions the girl tended to make, it didn't seem as if she had quite thought it through. Already knowing her answer, Elsa glanced around, spotting an unused sword leaning against the wall.

"Try that," she told her sister, "It should be enough to defend yourself if you're cornered."

Anna walked over to it and moved to lift the blade, but almost instantly she put it down, grunting as the metal banged to the floor.

"Ugh, heavier than I expected. Let me try again…"

Pulling together all her strength, Anna threw her hands on the un-sharpened end of the sword and tugged fiercely. It lifted a good two feet above the ground, but stopped there. Again, it fell, and again, Anna insisted on one more try.

The third time, Anna lifted it all the way to her waist line, but the blade had wiggled so much in her hands that she nearly ended up cutting off Kristoff's leg. At this, Elsa figured she'd done enough. Slowly, she put her hand on the sword's flat edge and lowered it to the floor.

"Hey!" Anna protested, pouting again. "Why'd you do that? I could have done it!"

Elsa just shook her head.

"Let's try something a little lighter. It'll be easier to wield."

With much precision—standing the object up on the ground so as not to have to lift it—Elsa grabbed the handle of the sword, jiggling it around until it became loose. Then she pulled it off with one fierce tug, and the entire sharp, metal edge clattered to the ground.

"What was that?" Anna asked, bewildered, "You just broke it!"

"No, no… you'll see."

In an instant—the handle still resting complacently in her hand—Elsa build out from the end of it. A long sheath of ice suddenly grew directly where the blade had existed before, and as she took in the beautiful work, Anna squealed in delight.

"The ice is hollow, but unbreakable" Elsa explained, gesturing towards the new knife in her hand, "It'll be stronger and lighter this way, but I kept the metal handle, so your fingers won't get cold. Admittedly, it's a little shorter and skinner than it was before—more of a dagger than a sword, really—but it'll do. What do you thi—"

"IT'S AMAZING!" shrieked Anna before she could finish, and without even a hint of warning, she had thrown her arms around a surprised and stiff Elsa.

"I'll go practice!" she yelled, and in an instant she had run off to God-knows-where to do just that. With a grunt, Kristoff pulled himself up from the wall, intent on going to follow her.

"You ready, Kristoff?" Elsa asked him before he left, wanting to leave no pieces of her puzzle unaccounted for. He, too, was now wearing his own set of armor, though the cheap leather and fur it consisted of was obviously less complex than both of the their own fabrics.

Kristoff looked at her and nodded, leaning his weapon of choice—a large, simple axe—over his shoulder. He gestured towards the bulky object in his hand and smiled.

"I can't go wrong with this. Anna's right, Elsa. We'll do fine. Don't worry about it."

And then he too exited, Sven followed suit, and the queen was left to drown in silence.

She didn't know what it was, she didn't know why it was there, but in that single horrible moment, Elsa just knew that it _existed_. Buried deep within the confines of her soul, swirling mercilessly in the acid of her stomach, this untouchable thing lived and thrived, immune to all her efforts to remove it. In many phycology books, it might've been referred to as intuition, but in everyday language, it was more often than not called a simple 'gut-feeling.'

She'd had these so-called gut-feelings quite a few times throughout her life, actually—the days before she found Benson in the dungeon, the week before her parent's big ocean-trip, the very hour before her coronation—and as she now knew, every one of those situations had ended up in a complete and utter disaster. So of course it was quite troubling to her that she felt that same, familiar gut-feeling right before the first and most-dangerous battle she had ever, and ever would, face in her entire lifetime.

Yes, it was quite a troubling thought indeed.

"Hiya Elsa!" said an unexpected voice from somewhere behind her, breaking her out of her thoughts. "What'cha thinkin' about?"

Elsa turned to see a very familiar face lolling hopelessly on the icy floor. Though all the children Anna had been playing with before had long since scurried away, this little guy, now being headless, didn't really have the option. Lacking a brain, his body walked around in circles and repeatedly banged itself into the walls, looking for its missing part. It must have been quite unpleasant experience, but for some reason, he didn't seem to mind it.

"Oh, hi Olaf," Elsa breathed out, the adrenaline slowly seeping out of her veins after such a sharp surprise. "Nothing really."

As had become habit whenever she saw the snowman looking like this, she strolled over to his headless body and tucked it under her arm, swiftly grabbing the important object it was so desperately searching for.

"I know you're nervous," Olaf said matter-of-factly as she plopped his head right back on his body, watching as he stretched his snow-made legs. "I can feel it."

She sighed heavily. Often she forgot the strong connection that she had with her living creations... creatures that included both cheery little Olaf, and the more-intimidating yet just-as-friendly Marshmallow. It was almost as if there was an invisible string between her soul and theirs, something nearly impossible to break, that tied their minds and hearts together. The story of how and why both Olaf and Marshmallow came to be was really a rather long and complicated one, and though she mulled over it quite often in her free time, she still had not come up with a conclusion that fully satisfied her. Still, though, the connection was always there, as was proven by the fact that Olaf currently knew her exact feelings.

"Yeah," she said slowly, shaking her head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just being paranoid. I don't know what's wrong with me; I'm sure Anna and Kristoff are right. Everything will be fine."

"Oh, no," said Olaf surely, and suddenly her eyes flashed down at him, confused. "I can feel it, too; your gut is right. The battle is going to end really badly. I might even get impaled again!"

And then he smiled at her with that cheerful, oblivious Olaf-smile and waddled carelessly on his way, humming a tune with every step. This time, when he left, Elsa really _was _alone, and somehow she was feeling even worse than when she had started.

...

About an hour later, the anxious queen stood at the bottom of the mountain with her first line of defensive soldiers, watching with the rest as the long-awaited enemy finally crossed over from the horizon. The first ice-dove she'd sent out now tittered noisily on her shoulder, ruffling it's transparent feathers after a long, tiring journey; after such an accurate report on the enemy's whereabouts, Elsa figured she deserved it. Aside from the bird, however, Elsa was currently surrounded by two of her closest advisers. Dustin stood on one side of her, looking jittery and terrified, while Anna stood on the other, a wide, excited grin stretched across her face. Two very-different expressions on two very-different people. It was almost sort-of funny.

"Ready everyone?" Elsa called to all her soldiers, trying to read their blank faces.

"Yes, Your Majesty," they all chorussed at once. Not every one of the men and women beside her was technically 'trained', but they did all have courage and valor, and that was all she needed from them at the moment. A week ago, when Elsa realized her kingdom's army size was severely lacking, she'd had to result to desperate and somewhat-illogical measures to pump it up. Crazy as it was, though, Anna had still loved it.

"Everyone man or woman who stands here today," Elsa had called out in the ice palace full of Arendelle citizens, her sword held high above her head, "Who is willing and/or capable of bearing arms for their country, please kneel down at my feet."

A very large handful of adults knelt down, as did a number of wryly children. After kindly prodding the younger one's upwards, Elsa began her short speech.

"Now tell me, heroes… is this something you really want?"

Most everyone nodded, and she'd taken that as a good sign. Clearing her throat, she began to recite the memorized oath that her father used to on very rare, special occasions. She did a make a few adjustments to it, however, in order to save some precious training-time. And by that, she meant that she pretty much cut off half of the unnecessary words.

"Do you, citizens of Arendelle, swear to show bravery, courage, and most-of-all honor on the battlefield for whenever you may find yourself within it?"

"I swear," they chanted.

"Do you swear to hold your country_ before_ yourself? To put the needs of your people, your friends, and your family before your very own?"

"I swear."

"Do you swear to show pure loyalty to Arendelle? To never betray your beloved country for the enemy?"

"I swear."

She'd done a few more of these simple recitations before she got to the final one.

"And now, swear to me before I end this, that no matter what happens, you will fight for one reason and one reason only. You will not do it because you hate those before you, but because you love those behind you, and that's that. As long as you do this, you will always remember to put mercy before vengeance, and that's the most important thing of all. Understand? Do you swear?"

The many voices that replied this time were so deeply intertwined that they almost seemed like one, deep rumbling of a giant. "I swear."

That last part of the oath was her own creation, made completely on the spot, but she found herself quite fond of it. Upon hearing them agree, Elsa raised her sword in the air again and brought it down in a swift arc, making sure it hit nothing but pure air.

"Well then, you have all proven yourselves worthy. I now pronounce each and every one of you an official knight of the great kingdom of Arendelle."

The joy and cheers that had followed that certain pronunciation had been ecstatic. As had been the entire point of the exercise, the soldiers had not lost their motivation since, their shiny titles of 'knight' being too much for their human hearts to resist. But now, as they stood on the brink of battle, each one refusing to show fear on their expression-less faces, she wondered if they would take it all back if they could.

"We're ready," Dustin said to bring her back to reality. Once again he tried to assure her, but his words were almost completely drowned out when Anna screamed at the very top of her lungs, "PREPARE TO FACE THE WRATH OF THE ICE QUEEN!"

Aside from the fact that the enemy creatures were too far away to hear her anyway, Anna also managed to nearly deafen half of Elsa's previously fully-capable soldiers, so despite her obviously good intentions, that fiercesome battle-cry couldn't exactly be considered helpful.

Soon, far too soon, the enemy was right up to Elsa's protective wall, conversing amongst themselves in words too muffled to comprehend. She could, however, see them through the transparent ice, and though Pabbie had warned her of their dark and gruesome appearance, she still couldn't help but cringe at their very presence.

Short, stubby bodies. Fat, round noses. Skin completely gray and gritty. They looked almost exactly like the trolls themselves, except for the fact that they were almost the exact opposite.

Even as far away as she was, separated by a semitransparent boundary, Elsa could still see the deformed, grotesque features of each and every one of their faces, seeming to almost glare back at her from outside her self-made prison. Their eyes were a glowing, glistening red… the kind of evil color people were only supposed to see in fairly tales. And their teeth, too. Oh, their teeth. Giant, pink fangs hanging out of their mouth, biting and gnashing and drooling and laughing with such high, cold voices. She couldn't hear the laughs just yet, but somehow she knew that they would be very, very cold. Enough to send chills even down even _her_ spine.

Different from the normal trolls, these certain one's had hair almost completely blackened by soot, hanging long and drab from every mushy skull. But worst of all, of course, was their skin. Sickly, brittle, decaying… they looked as if they had been buried underground for weeks, eaten away by the bugs and decomposers in the soil before finally being allowed to come back to the surface. She was sure they must've smelled just the same.

When Pabbie had first told her that their enemies were 'evil trolls,' she had been originally quite shocked, and then afterwards completely disbelieving. The only trolls _she'd _ever heard about were the crazy, nature-loving, slightly-eccentric one's that lived in the woods some miles off from her kingdom. Were they wild? Yes. But evil? Not in the slightest. Trolls couldn't be evil! They just… couldn't.

But yes, apparently they could. Pabbie had gone on and on about the dangers these certain enemies possessed, and how it was necessary that Elsa be as careful as humanly possibly when interacting with them. Concerned as he seemed to be, however, when she asked him for more information on these so-called 'evil trolls,' and why on earth they would be after _her_ of all people, his lips were immediately sealed.

"They are our darker cousins," he explained. "Like us, but corrupted by the evil of the world. Do not underestimate them; that is all I can say."

"But, wait!" Elsa began, frantic to find out more, "How am I supposed to—?"

"That is all I can say," he'd repeated firmly. "I'm sorry, my queen, but you'll just have to figure out the rest on your own."

It really hadn't been too helpful, and standing here now, right in front of what felt like thousands upon thousands of those horrible creatures all around, she couldn't help but think that it would've been quite useful had he actually bothered to _tell_ her something. _But no,_ she disciplined her, _he'd had his reasons._ If he didn't want her to question him, then she wouldn't question. He was a smart creature, and she had to respect him as much as she was able.

A few hours later, however, this self-discipline left her mind as the last of a certain-structure's supports crumbled down, the troll's combined forces having proven too much for it. Elsa had listened, gulp in her throat, as a large, ear-splitting crack rang out all around her and her people. A surge of ice-dust suddenly began to pour into the mountain air, filling it with a foggy white-mist that was impossible to see through, and by the time everyone's vision was finally cleared, they could all see quite clearly that the wall that had once protected them so effectively from the world was now completely and utterly gone. Reduced to a mere pile of crumbling ice shards all around them, stretching for miles in both directions.

Elsa was not sure what kind of powerful magic would be able to cause such horrible destruction to such a previously strong structure, but as she saw the leader of the evil-trolls smile at her with his pinkened, bloodied fangs, what she did know was this:

From here on out, things were about to get a _whole _lot more complicated.

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**Well, what did you think? Not great, I know, but I promise you that the next few chapters are going to be a LOT more exciting than these first two. I'm just setting the stage right now, the real stuff is yet to come. Trust me when I say it will soon get VERY intense and emotional (or at least I hope it will).**

**Thanks for reading! Please review and give me your ****opinions! **


	3. The Fire

**Hey guys! It's update time again! Excited? **

**This chapter begins exactly where the last chapter ends, so there isn't much to explain. I do want to tell you, though, that I make a few references to my other fanfic 'The Ice Princess' in this chapter. I tried to explain them fairly well, however, so if you haven't read it then you should still be fine :).**

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_Chapter Three: The Fire_

Everything began the moment the wall went down.

Trolls. Trolls everywhere. With their long, pink fangs and cold, red eyes and dark, ashy skin, and… wow. Just wow. They really were a sight to see, weren't they? Even as Elsa stood there, trying her hardest to demonstrate bravery and strength on that patch of icy ground, she could feel many of her fellow soldiers stiffen considerably beside her. They, too, were intimidated by the mere sight of their enemies, and that was never a good sign.

Well, at least not _all_ of her warriors were easily-terrified human beings, so that was a plus.

It had been Marshmallow who had given her the idea. The same Marshmallow, in fact, that had gone berserk and attacked Anna and Kristoff half a decade ago. Though Elsa had previously regarded this specific snowman as simply a 'failed project,' she'd gone back to the North Mountains a year or so after the incident to retrieve the crown she'd so unceremonious thrown on the floor of her ice palace. Long story short, after a seemingly-endless search and some mild-to-severe anxiety, she'd eventually found that giant, terrifying snow monster wandering around in the tundra, the crown she so desperately needed atop his head and—even more surprising—the word 'Mama' on his lips.

Apparently, though vastly temperamental, Marshmallow was not as monstrous as he'd originally seemed. For the past many months, he'd just been searching the land of ice and snow looking for his apparent-mother Elsa, unable to leave the boundaries of the mountains due to an understandable fear of melting. Formal as she was, the queen was not heartless. What other choice did she have but to take the poor thing back to Arendelle with her?

The snow-cloud she'd had to conjure above the monster's head was huge, and though it had been difficult getting the townspeople used to him at first, within weeks—helped greatly by the fact that everyone loved Olaf, and he went around calling the big guy his older brother—children were using Marshmallow as their own personal play-place, climbing all over his limbs and torso as if he were an actual mountain. Annoying as Elsa thought it would get for the poor guy, he seemed to mentally be a child himself, and therefore found just about as much joy in the game as all of the others.

Anyway, regardless of his actually quite-kind nature, Marshmallow really did have a very large and threatening appearance. When he'd first heard about the invasion—declaring in his large, booming voice that "Me will crush anyone who tries to hurt Mama!"—she just knew the perfect weapon to use for battle.

All around her, now—standing on either side of her front wall of soldiers—were near-duplicates of that giant snow-monster, icicles sticking out from all areas of their bodies and chests heaving forward in violent, imposing stances. Surely, with all the damage Marshmallow managed to do merely on _accident_ when he slipped and fell in town, these guys would prove valuable assets in battle.

Most importantly, though, they were replaceable.

Though Elsa didn't exactly understand it, she was perfectly aware by now that Olaf and Marshmallow were two objects of her creation that had somehow managed to become _alive_. Developed hearts, developed personality, developed minds of their very own. It would've been so fascinating to her had it not been so incredibly terrifying. The way Olaf had gone and found Anna five years ago without her telling him to was certainly an example of this, as was the moment when Marshmallow had lost his cool and started chasing her and Kristoff. Both of these things were actions that Elsa would've never condoned… and yet they had happened regardless, simply because the snow-creatures had _wanted_ them to. It was just so strange. She didn't know why it had even happened.

What Elsa did know now, however, was how to control it. As the ice-monsters all crowded around her today, each and every one was completely connected to her, held by seemingly-invisible 'strings.' With these, Elsa was the puppet-master, in control of their every single thought and action. Of course she still had a sort of string with Olaf and Marshmallow—a connection that allowed them to read each other's emotions, to know where each other was, to have this sort of 'inclination' regarding everything that they did or said—but it was a different sort. That certain string connected only to their hearts. In all the other monsters, it attached to nearly every limb of their body, their chests and their minds and even their expressions… allowing Elsa full and complete control. She must've accidentally cut the string when she had made Olaf and Marshmallow, which had allowed them to develop their own personalities. Now, however, she knew enough not to make the same mistake ever again.

Oh, not that it was a mistake. In fact, Elsa loved what she had done more than she could ever even hope to explain. Olaf was the nicest, funniest little guy she could imagine, and Marshmallow was just a big old teddy bear. She would never even _consider_ taking them back. But the thing was… when she was about to go into battle with such a powerful and terrifying enemy, having soldiers that were nice and soft wasn't exactly the priority. She wanted one's that were never afraid of anything, never wavered in following a single order, could die without it being tragic simply because they had never really lived in the first place… for she knew that when the strings were there, they were not actual sentient beings, but merely just extensions of herself. This way, she could use these snow-giants to fight and then allow them to sink back into the ground when it was all over, for as much as she loved her Marshmallow, having twenty more of him really wouldn't be a desirable option for her kingdom.

'_PREPARE TO FIGHT_!' Elsa shot out in her head, not exactly in words but just in a mere _feeling. _She felt the ground shift slightly below her as all the snow-giants she'd just telepathically commanded got into position at once. Of course, despite all the benefits, the negative about having soldiers that couldn't think for themselves was just that… they couldn't _think for themselves_. She was going to have to instruct them every step of the way in this battle, and considering there were twenty-plus of them scattered all around the place, she was going to have quite the challenge trying to focus. It was as if her consciousness had split, and if she didn't pay enough attention to each and every one of the pieces, something was going to fall apart.

Despite the fact that the message had only been directed at her snowmen, and should not have been heard by anyone not directly connected to her mind, one of the more-noticeable trolls gave her a sickening smirk, as if he knew exactly what she'd just done.

"Now, now Elsa," he said, stepping closer to her with his fangs glistening in the sunlight, "I think there's been a misunderstanding. I'm not here to fight you."

_Damn right you're not_, Elsa thought sarcastically, glaring at him. Despite how shallow this might've sounded to any other's ears, she couldn't help but distrust him just by the suspicious way he looked.

The skin of all the other trolls may have been dark and gritty, but on this certain one, he was so pale and sickly-looking that he shown almost brighter than the snow. This made his red-eyes glow even more noticeably than it did in his companions, and the long, straight hair that hung way down his back was a pale, bloody pink to match his fangs. His smile was so calm, but oh-God so terrifying, and Elsa struggled not to flinch at the sight of it. She could tell that he was the leader, of course, by the red-crystal necklace that rested gently on his chest… an attribute none of the other 'anti-trolls' seemed to have.

"There need not be a battle, my Queen," the troll king repeated, his words a seductive hiss. Unlike the way Pabbie addressed her, his voice held not even a hint of actual respect, instead seeming almost to mock her.

"Then why did you follow us here?" Elsa growled, the entire mountain deathly quiet so as to hear what the two were saying. "Why did you bring an entire _army_ by your side."

"Ah, yes," he said, so casually that it made her insides twist. "Why don't you just come over here and speak to me in private, then I can explain to you this little situation of ours. It seems so foolish… the way we speak from such a distance away."

That was true, at least. Elsa nearly had to shout to be sure he could hear her all the way over by the crumbling ice, and she would've liked to be able to return to her normal manner of cool collectedness. Still… approaching the trolls alone and undefended did not seem like such a good idea at the moment.

"And why don't you come over _here_?" she asked, making sure the suspicion shown from her voice. "Surely that would make no difference?"

"I'm afraid that won't do, my Queen. I have something private I must share with you. Feel free to tell your people after… but for now, we speak alone."

Speak alone. What an absolute _preposterous_ request for a conniving, corrupted soul to make. She would've turned him down right away, wiped that stupid smirk off his face by ordering her men to charge, had she really had the option to.

What kind of person would she be to attack a group of people—even if they weren't people at all—who were offering to speak to her first? What if they wanted to make a peace treaty, or ask for help, or discuss a code of laws! Of course, the vastly-negative things the real trolls had said about them still stuck heavily to the edges of her mind, but how could she do anything without seeing it for herself? Elsa had promised herself as a little girl that, just like her fair-old mom and daddy, as the queen of Arendelle she would never, ever attack a kingdom first… she would only fight to defend herself. And as dangerous as this situation was clearly getting, her feelings on that subject still held true and strong. She would make no exceptions. Unless Elsa wanted to break that rule, she was just going to have to suck it up and do as the blinding-troll commanded of her.

"Fine, then. We shall speak privately. But I must ask that you, in turn, keep your soldiers away from me and my people as we do so.

"Ask and you shall receive," the troll whispered, and with a snap of the fingers all the other trolls had backed up considerably, leaving a perfectly safe space around the king for which Elsa could discuss with him. The queen had not yet taken one step forward, however, when suddenly…

"NO!"

She turned her head to the side and—surprise, surprise—it was Anna, now looking frantic.

"You can't just _go _with him!" she insisted, exasperation filling her voice. "He's evil; he might try and hurt you!"

Aww, that was so sweet. Anna was worried about her! It was a pointless thing to feel, but the queen appreciated it all the same.

"I think I can handle myself, Anna," Elsa said, smiling amusedly at her sister's evident concern. "I do have a little something called ice powers, in case you've forgotten."

"I… I know," she said slowly, lowering her voice so that the many eavesdroppers all around couldn't hear, "But that doesn't mean you're invincible, Elsa."

"Of course not. But_ they_ don't need to know that."

She turned away from her sister—whispering "don't worry, it'll be alright" under her breath—and soon she was walking straight and tall towards the enemy, Anna looking extremely nervous but otherwise not doing anything to stop her.

"Why have you interfered with my kingdom?" she demanded of the pale troll once she had approached him, both out of earshot from all the watching soldiers and invaders. "What is it you need from me?"

"No need to sound so _hostile_**_, _**my lady," the troll replied smoothly, and she absolutely _despised_ that smirk across his lips. "I truly mean you no harm."

_Yeah right_, she thought, but the phrase was too childish to say aloud.

"Pabbie has told me about you," she replied instead. "He warned me not to trust you."

"Ah, Pabbie," the troll whispered, as if reminiscing on some old, childhood friends. "My faithful brother. Always so pessimistic; it saddens me."

_Oh_. Pabbie had mentioned something about the good trolls being related to the evil, but as far as him actually being a _brother_ to the king of them? Well, that was new.

Elsa opened her mouth to ask about this, but was cut off when the troll piped up, "Well-well, where are my manners?"

Despite the fact that his height made this endeavor useless, he kneeled down at her feet, grabbing her hand so as to hold it to his lips. This was most often a sign of respect to rulers… but when he did it? Somehow, it felt like the worst insult imaginable.

"Call me Tedar… ruler of the great and vastly-misunderstood population of the Slave Trolls."

He touched his lips to her hand, and though she knew it must've only been her imagination, she felt her skin burn at the contact.

"Slave Trolls?" she asked, confused at the name and trying to act as if nothing at all was wrong with it. "Why such a title, if I may ask?"

"Never mind that," Tedar answered, calmly brushing the question aside, "But know that we are just as good as your other friends. No matter what the Free Trolls say, we only mean you well."

Free Trolls. So that was what Pabbie's group was called. She wondered why…

"Well," she said suddenly, remembering what they were here for. "Go on, then. What is it that you wanted to discuss with me?"

God, that smile of his. It really did make her sick.

"Straightforward, aren't you?" he remarked cooly. "I like that."

She glared at him in agitation.

"And?"

"And I came here to ask you for a little… erm… _agreement_, let's say."

"Agreement?" she repeated, eyebrows raised in surprise. "What about?"

"Something I'm sure is very important to you. Bare with me here, My Queen… this offer is much kinder than you may realize at first."

She sighed, already tired of his tendency to avoid her actual area of interest.

"I think I'll decide that for myself, thank you."

"Ah, yes. Of course you will." His grin still stretched across his face as he spoke, and she resisted the urge to throttle him. "Well, my dear, what me and my people offer you is this: a peace treaty."

_Oh. _A peace treaty! Well that was great, wasn't it! Now there would be no need for this silly, foolish battle they'd been so nervously preparing for. What a wonderful relief that was. Elsa simply couldn't_ help_ the sigh she released as a flood of tension she didn't know she had was lifted from her chest.

"A peace treaty," Elsa said slowly, trying desperately to stifle her smile. "Interesting. What are the terms?"

_That_ question, she figured, was when everything started to go wrong.

"If you agree," Tedar began, looking her straight in the eyes without even a hint of humor, "To hand over all your people, give me direct rule over you entire kingdom, and use your powers in whichever way I direct… then I swear that I will not hurt a single one of your precious Arendelle citizens."

Elsa blinked at him, trying to determine whether or not this was some kind of unfunny joke.

"Um… what?"

Yeah, that wasn't a very queenlike statement of her, but whatever. Nobody could be formal _all_ the time.

"Trust me when I tell you that my rule—under of which both you and your citizens will serve—will grant you power and wealth unimaginable in its depth. You and my people… together we will truly be unstoppable."

Elsa could barely even breathe at this.

"Wha—I mean—I can't just _join_ you!"

He raised a curious eyebrow. "And why not, my Queen? Shall I remind you that if you decline, my troll army is the fiercest and most-unstoppable group of fighters that you will ever face? I would not want us to be your enemies if I were you. It would serve Arendelle so much better to simply merge with us, don't you agree?"

"Agree?" Elsa spat, and suddenly her confusion and disbelief was replaced by a bright, flashing anger. "Who do you think I am? I am no _pushover_, you know, no _coward, _if that's what you think! And just for the record, neither is anyone else in my kingdom! We will not just _submit_ to you; we're not afraid to put up a fight, and we'll prove it. This very 'peace treaty' is incredibly insulting to both me and my people!"

Tedar did not look at all like somebody who'd just been rejected on a very serious and important offer. He just continued to look at her, his expression calm and pleasant.

"So is it a decline, then?"

"Yes," Elsa said seriously. "It is a decline."

He smirked at her, and she noticed his eyes flashing in their sockets. "If you wish."

…

"_Nich Ra'to Mayina!" _

_"__O'pa! O'pa! O'pa!" _

Elsa blinked again. It took her a second to realize that the strange, deep-throated chant had come from Tedar, and the just-as-strange reply from his entire troll army. Before she knew it, each and every one of them was walking closer and closer to her, arms straight and stiff at their sides as the incomprehensible words continued to fly from their lips. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she felt the soldiers somewhat far behind her begin to raise their weapons.

"Advance!" Elsa yelled to her army, and unwavering in their loyalty, they did just as she commanded. Soon, they were all besides her, the troll-soldiers standing in a straight line no more than three feet away. She saw her people preparing themselves to strike, was almost ready to do it herself, but then suddenly a tiny, previously-missed detail caught her eye, and she ordered them all to halt. Big mistake.

"What?" asked Anna, who despite having a long-range bow couldn't help but force herself into the frontline. "Why did we stop?"

"They..." the queen began, unable to put this strange realization into words, "They..."

"It's time for battle, Elsa!" she interrupted, impulsive as always. "Don't tell me you're getting cold feet now!"

"It's not that, it's just—"

"C'mon! It's a war; we need to fight them!"

Elsa sighed, knowing that no matter what way she put this, it was going to sound odd.

"It's hard to fight when the opposing side doesn't have any weapons…"

Anna and the rest of the soldiers gaped down at the trolls' completely-empty hands, and in this single moment in which all were caught off guard, Tedar made his move. Suddenly, the troll king lifted both arms into the air, his mouth still chanting on and on in a language Elsa was completely unfamiliar with. Everyone just continued to watch in shock as a thick, green fog emanated from his hands into the fresh mountain air. All the Slave Trolls behind him followed his example, and in a flash of a moment it was like there was a giant, monstrous wave of green gas imposing down in front of them all, ready to swallow their entire population whole.

"Elsa?" Anna asked from beside her, looking just as confused and scared as the rest of the people, "What going o—?"

She couldn't even finish her sentence, the green smoke blowing forward into her lungs and causing her to break out into a series of deep, spastic coughs. Beside her, everyone else was doing the same, and strangely, only Elsa seemed to be completely unaffected.

"Anna!"

One by one, the people stopped coughing, lifting their faces upwards again as if nothing had gone wrong in the first place. But somehow, they were't the same people anymore. Not at all. Elsa noticed that their faces, having moments ago demonstrated complete fear and confusion, were now totally expressionless, and their blank-eyes stared straightforward for no real reason at all. Something was happening—obviously—and it didn't seem to be a very _promising _thing.

More and more people were looking up, now, their faces appearing to be nothing more than those of blank, plastic dolls. A real stretch of emotion filled Elsa's chest, and suddenly she was screaming in fear for her people, knowing that this was something she had absolutely no control over.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" she shrieked at Tedar, unable to control herself. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM?!"

He just smiled, of course. He always smiled.

Fear gripping every part of her body, Elsa held her breath and slowly turned herself back towards Anna. Relief ripped itself through her when she saw the girl hadn't gone all blank-eyed yet, but still she was coughing hard, her entire torso shaking considerably. It was almost as if she was fighting whatever was happening. Well… yes! Yes, of _course _Anna would be the one to fight it! She was Anna, after all. The most determined girl Elsa ever knew.

Hope pricking at the corners of her eyes, Elsa reached forward and placed a gentle hand on Anna's shoulder. The girl stopped shaking instantaneously, and without a say in the way things would turn out, the queen just waited for her to return, biting her lip in anxiety.

"Huh?" Anna yelled out suddenly, and her head shot up, eyes wild and lively and anything, _anything_ but blank. "Elsa? Elsa, what just happened?"

Relieved, Elsa could not find a way to respond, but the red-headed woman needn't take one long around before she understood.

"Oh…"

The green, foggy gas was still advancing in the air, now moving towards her monumental ice-palace and overcoming it in all its mere enormity. Elsa could already imagine the hundreds upon hundreds of people inside of it, all suddenly going into spasms of coughing and ending up with those same, expression-less faces. God, oh God, oh God, oh God…

What on earth was going _on_?

As if reading her mind, Tedar finally decided to answer.

"I made them see the truth," he said, grinning, and suddenly the fog just dissipated from the air. A second more, and all the expressions returned to her people's faces, but this time there was something off about them. Something very, very wrong. She just couldn't quite put her finger on it…

"Monster!"

Hm? Elsa flipped her head to the side to see a tall, dark-haired man—she recognized him as one of the many Arendelle citizens who thanked her whenever she walked by—pointing at her and glaring, anger practically emanating off of his face.

"She's a witch! A witch!"

Another person. This one was a woman, and Elsa had only just yesterday agreed to make her a giant, un-meltable snowflake to give to her daughter as a birthday gift.

"She'll kill us all!" someone shouted, though the queen couldn't exactly see who it was.

"Not if we kill her first!"

"She needs to be punished for her crimes!"

Ummm… what? Elsa did a three-sixty turn on the icy ground, glancing around at the numerous soldiers surrounding her. Nearly every single one of them—excluding Anna, of course, who was now looking absolutely baffled—pointed accusingly at Elsa, an array of bitter, venom-filled words spitting from their lips. Only her faithful assistant Dustin was still coughing, and even _he_ seemed to be fighting a losing battle.

"We need to stop her!"

"She's dangerous!"

"SOMEBODY GRAB THAT WITCH!"

All at the once, a surge of people—looking more like a swarm of angry, buzzing bees—began to push their way towards her. They were still screaming those same obscenities, and for some reason, Elsa got the feeling that they weren't exactly coming in for a hug. They descended upon her, ready to swallow her up the same way the green smoke had done to them, and all the while she just stood there and stared right back at them, her options dwindling down to zero.

"Stop!" Anna yelled, jumping up in front of Elsa and holding out her hands to halt the crowd. It was such a sweet gesture, but quite a useless one, for with their mere strength and numbers they just trudged right on through her shaky, one-woman wall, overcoming the poor girl without even an ounce of effort.

And wow, _wow_, now it was her turn and they were all stampeding towards her like a herd of wild cattle, swarming her until she felt as if she was drowning in a sea of bodies. Pushed this way, pulled the other, she felt skin brush skin so many times but there were simply too many flashes of body parts to keep up with. So she just stood there and tried to stay afloat, completely confused as to what in the world was going on. She fought back not a bit as the hundreds upon hundreds of people moved forward to trample her, and only when she was knocked over—her head slamming violently against the cold, hard ground—was she allowed to sink off into the calm, uncomfortable darkness of unconsciousness.

She came round an unknown amount of time later, something stiff pressed tightly against her back. Or, more accurately, her _back_ pressed tightly against something stiff. For a few seconds, she just leaned on it, her head pounding too violently and her mind far too groggy to bother investigating. Soon, however, the emotions she'd been left with before she passed out returned, and she knew she couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

Very slowly, the blur of lights and colors in front of her eyes began to focus itself, and squinting her eyes against the blinding light of the rising sun, she started to try and absorb her complex situation.

Woah, wait a second… a rising sun? She must've been out longer than she'd thought. And what exactly had happened, anyway? All her memories were kind of foggy.

Elsa raised her hand to gently message her temple, but she found, to her dismay, that her hand wouldn't lift at all. In fact, _both_ her hands wouldn't lift, and there was an uncomfortable stinging sensation on her wrists. Craning her next to try and get a good glimpse of what was behind her, she saw that there was a thick, fraying rope that tied both her hands together, her arms wrapped backwards around some thick piece of wood sticking out from the earth. There was another, similar rope against her stomach that kept her backside attached to this solid object, and it was tight enough that she found herself struggling to breathe. To make things worse, the rope's surface was anything but soft, chaffing her skin and leaving red, scaly marks that she knew wouldn't fail to itch later on.

Shaking her head slowly, Elsa blinked and allowed herself to gaze around at her surroundings. All she saw at first, however, were a lot of people. A lot, a lot, a whole _lot_ of people. They looked angry, furious even, and suddenly something in the queen's brain clicked. She gasped as memories flooded her, nearly causing her to lose her footing.

"Anna!"

The last thing she remembered was seeing the princess being taken in by the crowd of wild, Arendelle citizens. If Elsa had been knocked out so easily, surely _anything_ could've happened to the girl…

"Anna! Anna! A—"

"Elsa, it's alright! I'm here!"

Alright? She didn't look alright. Not with Anna standing there at least thirty feet away from her, separated by a sea of people and holding onto long, carved sticks that could only be making up the bars of a prison. She was tied down, and now her sister was trapped inside a wooden cage that had come from only God-knows-where. How much_ better _could things get?

"Ah, queen…" said a familiar icy voice, coming from the blindingly-pale form of a troll next to Anna's newly-carved cell. "I'm so glad to see that you have finally awakened. Now the fun can _really_ begin."

Before then, the defining chanting of the crowd—for it was just that, a thousand angry voices all screaming at once—managed to make its way to her ears, and she picked out a few select suggestions.

"Kill the witch!"

"Make her pay!"

"Burn her at the stake!"

Ah, stake. So that's what this large, wooden beam was that she was tied to. How clever: melting the queen of ice. Who could have thought of that?

Fun as this game was, Elsa wasn't having any of it. If she going to get out of this—and yes, that was her plan—then she needed to act quickly. In one quick burst of fury, she sent her powers out of her hands, and immediately a large surge of ice swept onto the ropes that bound her. Faced with such frost, they immediately turned brittle, and it took her not one nice tug before they cracked and crumbled into nonexistence. Much like her precious wall.

"Anna, I'm coming!" she yelled out to the girl, but she doubted she could've heard her if she was standing two feet away, much less thirty. Upon seeing Elsa's escape, the screams around them grew even louder, some of the more insulting profanities ringing heavily in her ear.

"ANNA!" she screamed again, but no go. She couldn't even see her, now, what with all the people starting to swarm her.

"Get away," she said to the men and women who approached her, expressions of hate plaguing faces that had once looked upon her with admiration. "Get away from me; I can hurt you!"

Oh, but she knew she wouldn't. Not them. Not her own people, her own citizens, her very own _family_. She would no sooner hurt them than hurt Anna, and she knew deep down in the very core of her soul that she would never even _dream_ about hurting strong, kind Anna again.

In pure hopelessness, Elsa turned to the only person—the only _thing_—that she'd rather do anything to avoid.

_Stop them, _she mouthed desperately to Tedar, hoping to God that he'd be willing to oblige. _Let's work things out. _

But no go. The troll just stood there and stared at her, that same, obscene smile still stretched across his face. He made no move to quiet down the crowd, and she knew that he must've been enjoying himself. Here Elsa was, in complete and utter panic, and that troll was _enjoying _himself! That fool, that scoundrel, that coward. If he wanted this, then know what? He was going to get it.

"FINE!" Elsa shrieked, and her fury was so pure and blood-chilling that for a moment everything actually quieted. "Do what you will!"

She began to walk, slowly and with dignity, back to the stake that still stood unmoved behind her.

"No!" Anna yelled from her cage, and Elsa could hear the pure fear in her voice but payed it no outward attention.

_It'll be okay_, she mouthed to the girl as she allowed her hands to be rebound by fresh, un-frozen ropes. _Just trust me_.

And by God, something must've really changed in the last few years in their lives, because suddenly—for what seemed like the first time in forever—Anna actually did. She didn't keep fighting, didn't scream and cry and do everything in her power to save her sister's life, but simply nodded her head and stepped back a little, now completely silent. Trust. Anna actually trusted her. The thought was far too plain and wonderful for her to comprehend.

"Get on with it, then," she said firmly as the villagers exchanged maliciously-eager looks, preparing themselves to burn her to her gruesome death. "Light me."

She could see the look of utter surprise and even—if she did say so herself—slight discomfort on Tedar's face, and she knew that this was not something he'd been expecting to happen. Maybe he really _didn't_ want her dead after all. Maybe he'd just wanted a way to demonstrate his vast power, to scare her into complete submission. She smirked to herself, sending him an arrogant glare. How he must be feeling now, his entire plan having backfired. She could almost feel the way his insides _squirmed._

Oh, but he was not ready to back-out just yet, and she was glad.

"If this is truly what you want… then go ahead, _Queen_."

He thought that she was only testing him. That she was going to admit any second now that it was only a sham, and she really was afraid of death like the rest of the entire human race. But oh no. She knew something that he didn't, and she sure as hell was going to take advantage of it.

Plastering a copy of his same, obscene smile across her face, Elsa just waited there in complete stillness as the first bit of flame was thrown upon her stake. That, of course, was when the _real _fun began.

Up and up and up she felt the flame climb upon her, using her soft, pale skin like the sturdy rungs of a ladder. If not the actual heat—which she had been impervious to since the day she was born—Elsa could at least identify the _presence_ of the fire. A soft, faintly-uncomfortable tinkling sensation that started at her ankles and worked its way upwards. There was no pain, though. The queen knew enough now to expect this.

Just in time to save her clothing, Elsa put forth a little effort to cover the fabric in a light layer of frost. Not very strong, but good enough to protect her work. Still standing next to Anna's cage, Tedar stared at her curiously, and she knew he must've been wondering why she thought her easily-meltable ice would be any match against such a swallowing heat. Or even why a burnt-to-the-crisp corpse needed clothing, anyway. But he didn't know what she did. Elsa had no plans on becoming a corpse anytime soon.

"Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn!" the crowd all chanted with those hateful flashes in their eyes, watching from a safe distance so as not to get burned themselves. Clearly, they didn't realize what was happening yet. But that was alright. When the reaction kicked in, not a single soul would be able to ignore it for a moment longer.

"Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn!"

The orange flames had climbed up the entire length of her legs, now licking her hips like the soft, pleasant current of water. Even the ice-covered skirt she wore appeared to be alight, but she wondered if anyone had noticed yet that both her skin and clothing were completely unharmed. Not a burn mark to be seen, and certainly no melting.

"Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn!"

The flickering heat was up to her chest now, and Elsa smiled to see that the change was starting to occur. Steadily, of course, but it was happening all the same. She looked up to see Anna staring at her from within her cage, smiling from the excitement. So… she remembered, too. It may have only been one moment, four years ago and followed by an event that blew it completely out of the water, but it had still happened, and Anna remembered. That made it so much easier; now both of them could laugh at the shocked looks on everybody else's face.

"Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn!"

Ah, yes! Here it was now! The very base of the flames—orange-white as it always seemed to be—had faded almost completely, and in its place… a change. Small at first, but then it grew and grew and grew until suddenly it was impossible not to notice. Until suddenly everybody's eyes were drawn to her like bees to honey, and even _she_ couldn't stop herself from looking. There it was... that purple. A beautiful, translucent, glittering shade of purple that surrounded Elsa's body like a halo. The orange was still there, near the very tips of the flames, but that only succeeded in adding dimension to the already stunning affect. It was like her soul had an aura. But not just any old aura… the most powerful one anybody had ever witnessed.

"Burn! Burn! Burn! Bu—"

"Wait! No, what's she doing?"

"What's going on? What's going on?"

Elsa smirked silently to herself at the sound of all the confused, angry voices that surrounded her. She didn't blame them, really, but she still found it pretty funny. And by the looks of Anna's face, so did she. Ah, memories.

A few years ago, Elsa and Anna had been sitting near a lit fireplace when all of the sudden—she couldn't exactly remember her reasonings for this, but they probably weren't very sound—Elsa found herself sitting there with her hand shoved deep into the flame. An experiment, almost, just to see what would happen. Probably not the _best _idea, but if she hadn't done it, she wouldn't have known.

She was resistant to fire.

Contrary to what one must've expected, heat did nothing to Elsa. She could not feel it, she could not be harmed by it, she could barely even touch it! She'd known this the moment she'd watched her hand engulfed in those so-called dangerous flames and had not even flinched, feeling as if she'd just dipped her hand into a pool of running water. And she knew it now, too, as she simply stood here, tickling all over as the hypnotized men and women watched with disbelieving eyes. It was not a skill that came without it's benefits.

Just being _resistant_ to the fire, however, was not all there was to it. As had happened the first time she'd come in contact with the element, there did happen to be a sort of… _reaction_ between them and her powers. Not a dangerous one, surely, but something more along the lines of fascinating. The red of the flames mixed with the blue of her power and suddenly… purple. A shimmering, purple-tinted mist in the air that marked the boundary between herself and the fire. She hadn't exactly found any practical use for it, yet, but she couldn't deny that it was quite the sight to see.

_It makes you look like a goddess_, Elsa saw Anna mouth from across the sea of people, eyes glittering with admiration as she stared upon her. The queen couldn't keep herself from smiling as the purple tint overtook her head and hair, her entire body now fully engulfed. Finally… it was time for her to stop her endless wait and begin her little show.

_Crack! _

Just as quick as last time, she sent a wave of frost over the already-singed ropes that bound her, and in an instant they had crumbled to pieces and fallen away. The stake behind her was ever-steadily being chipped to nothingness by the overwhelming heat of the multi-colored fire, but when Elsa walked away she took the purple with her, and it went back to looking like a normal, burning stake lodged randomly into the ground.

Elsa continued to walk pleasantly towards her sister, taking long, striding steps to show off just how calm and collected she was. What a sight she must've been, though; a girl literally swallowed by fire just strolling along as if nothing was wrong in the slightest… a mysterious, shining substance practically emanating from her skin. She was pleased to see that the hypnotized citizens—who had once looked at her with such cold, violent hatred—now backed away to clear a perfect path, seemingly second-guessing themselves. Out of all of them, though, she was only interested in Tedar. She smiled at him mischievously, and she felt his obvious discomfort. But it wasn't enough.

Now, this next thing… it was not something she'd ever done before. Not something she'd ever even _considered_, but wow, now that she'd tried it she figured she ought to do it more often. It just felt so strange and exciting; and by the expression on Anna's face, it must've looked pretty cool too.

Elsa made flames. Licking, flickering, swirling flames that danced above her head and jumped out from her skin and caressed her face like a mother's gentle hand. The only difference between this flame and the original, actually, was the fact that her's were blue.

It wasn't too difficult to make—she'd always been able to create those millions of tiny ice-crystals in the sky, and she found out long ago just how easy they were to manipulate—it was just the way they _moved_ that was so astounding. They fluttered and blew and, yes, flickered in the air just the way a real fire did. _Exactly _the way a real fire did, actually. Now Elsa was surrounded by a layered halo of purple, orange, and blue flames all stacked one on top of the other… and wow, just _wow_, it was so fun.

Well, whatever Elsa was planning to do, there was no better time than now.

"Tedar," she said softly, and her voice so calm and masterfully cynical that she surprised even herself. "What do you think now?"

He said nothing in response to this, just glared at her impressive light-show, his entire stance emanating hatred.

"I'm sorry to be the one to say it, but you should know by now that things aren't going to go as you planned. Whatever you were hoping for, it's just not going to happen."

Still nothing, but his powerful gaze seemed only to intensify, and if looks could kill she knew she'd have been obliterated into a thousand icy pieces long ago.

"No matter what you think, you will never defeat my kingdom. Never defeat _me_. And you know why?"

She didn't wait for him to answer, speaking her next sentence with about a thousand times more power in her voice, more beautiful danger.

"Because I am _invincible! _See me now? I am literally on fire… and yet here I am, completely untouched. Nothing can harm me, nothing can break me, and if you think you will be the exception to this rule then you are _sadly_ mistaken!"

Psssh. Invincible? Hardly. Blades and arrows could still hurt her the same as anybody else; it was only anything temperature-related that she had this inborn resistance to. As technically bad as lying was, Elsa knew that at the moment intimidation was far more important than telling the truth, and she was more than willing to play the part.

"So go ahead! Try and stop me, you morally-blind fool. But just remember this… no matter what you do, no matter how close you'll think you are to winning, it's all an illusion. I will always, and I mean _always_, be two steps ahead of you, and that will never change. So go ahead and make your pointless next move… just remember. I am invincible, and no matter what you try, no one will ever stop me."

God, what a speech. Elsa would've spent some more time reveling in the courage it took her to make it, had Tedar not been so insistent on taking her up on her offer to 'make a move.'

"People!" he screamed, his voice still so high-pitched and evil but not quite having the same effect on her as it did before. "The monster is getting away! Are you just going to let her do that, or do you want her to pay for her crimes against humanity just the same way that I do? What are you waiting for?! Draw your swords and show your corrupted queen exactly what happens to witches like her!"

Oops. Looks like she hadn't played it off as well as she thought she had. He knew she wasn't _actually _invincible to everything… but still, she had to act unafraid. If she wasn't physically invincible, then she would be emotionally, and she couldn't allow things like this to overpower her.

He must've wanted her to fight back—forcing her to kill her own people would be such a huge blow to her morale, she'd probably lose on the spot—but by some God-given miracle she managed to slip past the men and women with their advancing swords, backing into an empty stretch of snow that led directly into the woods. She was about to run off, actually, when all of the sudden she remembered…

"Anna!" Elsa found herself yelling, looking frantically back into the crowd of people. There she was, still in her cage and probably feeling rather stiff by now, but still perfectly alive and well.

"It's alright!" Anna yelled from within her confinement, holding onto the bars in front of her. "Go on without me! They won't hurt me as long as I'm not you, and I can work to set things straight while you're gone! Don't worry about me, just go!"

Elsa did not. She just stood there, the crowd inching steadily towards her as if approaching a deer about to run away at any moment. She couldn't just _leave_ her sister, could she? Tedar was by no means a moral troll, and if he wanted Anna dead…

"Just do it," the girl screamed, probably noticing her doubt. "Please! Just trust me!"

Gah, that trust thing. The biggest issue Elsa had. As much as she didn't want to do it, the queen remembered how just moments ago Anna had trusted her to literally set herself on _fire_, so of course Elsa had no option but to grant her the same. It was only fair; so if Anna wanted trust, then she would get it. Elsa just hoped to God the girl knew what to do with it.

In one quick flit of the wrist, Elsa shot out a shard of ice from her hand. With perfect aim, it hit the side of Anna's cage and knocked a few of the bars loose, just enough for her to escape without a problem. It was the very _least_ she could do if she was going to leave her behind. And besides, now Elsa had one less thing to worry about…

With a flash of white braid, Elsa turned her head and ran off into the woods, looking for something—_anything_—that might help her decide what on earth she was supposed to do next.

* * *

**Done! What did you think? Did I do a good job?**

**Anyway, if you didn't realize, both the thing with Marshmallow and the stuff about Elsa's resistance to fire were things I originally explained in my first fanfiction. Hopefully those who didn't read understood what was happening perfectly fine. If not, though... I'm really sorry!**

**Please read and review! It would mean a lot to me :D. I'll try and update as soon as I can. **


	4. The Village

**Hey everybody! First off, let me just say that I'm SO SORRY for taking so long to update. I just had a really, really busy last-few-weeks-of-summer, and school just started, so I haven't had a lot of time to write. I got it done, though, so here it is. It starts a few hours after the last chapter left off.**

**Sorry in advance, btw, because this is another one of those less-interesting chapters. It's more of a way for me to connect the action, and even though it's sort of boring, it's necessary. I hope you like it!**

* * *

Elsa didn't know exactly how much time had passed since she'd made her less-than-elegant escape from the mob of her own people, but she did know _one_ thing for certain… she wasn't going to last much longer. Hours could've passed since she'd last seen her sister's face; she really had no idea. Hours and hours and hours of sprinting as fast as she could through the thick, windy woods. Of stumbling through sharp branches and twisted vegetation until her skin was as scratched as a hundred-year-old tree bark. Of breathing so heavily that she was almost certain her lungs were about to pop right out of her aching chest, leaving her body weak and oxygen-less. Wow, wow, wow, she really needed to get more exercise. As strong as she tried to be mentally, her physical fitness was a whole other story, and she was paying for it now.

What time was it, anyway? Elsa looked upwards, spying a purple, darkening sky between the branches of the trees surrounding her. So, it was sunset then… hadn't she started running at dawn? No wonder she was tired. No wonder her knees were shaking so wildly. No wonder she was seconds away from crashing to the ground and losing consciousness…

Elsa sighed heavily, knowing fully well that she was only kidding herself with the idea that she might be able to continue on. This was impossible, this was impossible... she needed to stop. Gasping continuously and clutching at a stitch in her side, the queen found a nice, thick tree and leaned herself upon it, sliding down the trunk until she was resting against its very base. Snow still blanketed the ground all around her, and she knew she'd probably wake up with her armor wet and crystalized, but there really wasn't much other choice. It wasn't like they had any queen-sized beds out here in the wilderness. She looked up towards the sky, letting the stars glimmer against her eyes for one more moment before she closed them, and then breathed deeply into the night.

God, things were so complicated now. So wildly, inexplicably, unbelievably complicated. She had absolutely no idea how she was supposed to deal with this mess she'd gotten herself into… and to think just hours ago she had actually claimed herself _invincible_. Pssh, what a load of lies it seemed now. If anybody, Anna was invincible, but her? She was the most fragile of them all. One little gust of wind and she would shatter like glass, like thinning ice, and she would never be able to come back together again. She knew this because it had almost happened to her a few years ago. Almost. Anna had saved her.

"It's alright," Elsa whispered aloud to herself, the same tone of voice she'd always used as a child to whisper that infamous mantra of 'conceal, don't feel.' "It's alright, it's going to be fine, just keep calm. Go to sleep, and once you wake up tomorrow morning you'll have a clear head and can sort through everything."

Just as it had never worked back then, however, talking herself into tranquility did not work now. She was still just as anxious, still just as fearful, still oh, so weak. But luckily, she was also still tired. Before long, she had drifted off into a deep, uncomfortable sleep, and as she did so another group of people—or should she say another group of _creatures_—took care of things for her.

…

"Pss… pss… Pabbie!"

"Yes, Bulda?"

Elsa stirred from unconsciousness. Words streamed across her ears as slow and smooth as river water, but they were muddy and slurred in her brain, not yet comprehensible. She played them into her current dream, allowing the sounds to roll around in her head.

"I just… I wanted to know. When are you going to tell her? We were all wondering, and I just thought—"

"When it's time, Bulda."

Elsa sensed gentle movement somewhere nearby, and though she was not yet able to react, she was beginning to gain further awareness of her muscles. The soft voices grew louder within her, becoming more than just a lulling background-music.

"But when will it be time?"

"Sometime after she awakes, I'm sure."

A hand touched her head, softly caressing her hair, and it pulled her even further into reality.

"Oh, yeah… about that, Pabbie… are you even sure she's going to? She's been asleep for an awful long time, y'know, and she didn't react at all while we were carrying her. She's such a dear, do you think Tedar did something to her? I swear, if he did—especially if he hurt my little Kristoff along the way—I will tear that sorry demon-spawn _apar_—"

"Mmmnghhh…"

Elsa moaned loudly, suddenly flipping over onto her side so as to avoid the copious amount of light streaming in through her closed eyelids.

"Shush now, Bulda. She's waking."

"Mmnnghhhmmm…"

Previously, she had been dreaming about her and Anna as little children, but as she stirred all memories of those strange, swirling images melted away. All that remained were those two, consistent voices pounding away at the inside of the brain… which meant that unlike the rest of the things she'd seen and heard so far today, they must've been real.

"Elsa, Elsa, can you hear me? Come towards my voice. I know it may be difficult, but you must come towards my voice."

Difficult… Difficult… she struggled to remember what that word meant. In fact, she struggled to do _anything _at the moment. All parts of her being were screaming for her to put her head down and go back to sleep. Fall right into that sweet, painless cloud of unconsciousness. It was just so tempting…

"Don't let yourself fall back to sleep, Elsa. It's very important that you wake up as soon as possible. It's the best for both of us."

"Mmmnnng…"

That familiar voice. Flowing so deep and smooth through the morning air. The tone was serious, very serious, and it sounded almost as if… as if... as if something was wrong. What if there was? What if something _was_ wrong, something _had_ gone bad, and then… what if… she had to wake up! She absolutely _had_ to wake up! Her people might be in trouble, and what about—

"Anna!"

Elsa's head exploded upwards, her drooping eyelids all-of-the-sudden as high as they could possibly go. She gasped a few times, turned her head quickly from side-to-side, and then allowed herself to relax as she took in her generally-calm surroundings.

"A-Anna?"

"Anna isn't here, Elsa. She's back on the North Mountains where you left her. It's just Bulda and I; we've come to help you."

"Help… me?"

It was at this point now that Elsa regained her full-awareness, followed immediately by a bright, embarrassed blush. The trolls had seen her half-asleep, mumbling and screaming in a way that seemed so incredibly ridiculous, and her hair… she brought her hand up to her head, feeling the frizz tickle her fingers as multiple pieces of it defied gravity at odd angles. Oh God, her hair. She'd trained herself not to move during sleep, so this almost _never_ happened. But no, the _one_ time she actually slept in front of company…

Elsa sighed deeply, wiping her palm across her white braid to help at least somewhat smooth it out. It did little good, but still. It made her feel a bit better. She knew that if Anna were here now, she'd probably be laughing. That girl loved it whenever she lost her queen-like formality; she said it reminded her that she wasn't the only one.

"Pabbie," Ella said slowly, shaking that thought out of her head. "Bulda. What are you two doing here? I thought you—"

She looked around at her warm, grassy surrounding, and a realization clicked in her brain.

"Wait, this isn't where I was when I went to sleep… and this isn't your village, either. Where are we?"

"Insightful question," Pabbie responded, and she marveled at his ability to keep his voice so smooth and calm no matter the circumstances. "I'd be happy to answer it, but that would require a very long explanation indeed, and I doubt either of us want to get into that just yet."

Elsa merely blinked at him, confused as ever.

"I'll be in my tent," Pabbie continued, taking advantage of her silence. "Once you clean yourself up to your liking—and explore the area to your heart's desire, if you so wish—then come see me, and I'll explain it all."

He stood up, and Elsa realized she hadn't even noticed that he'd been kneeling right beside her.

"Show her to the river," he instructed Bulda, and with an enthusiastic nod the troll swore she would. Then he simply walked away, and the two were left alone together.

"Hello, dear!" the troll-woman said cheerfully, beaming at her as soon as Pabbie was gone and out of sight. "Good to see that you're finally up and about! I'll admit, I was worried you wouldn't make it… but you did, so that's all in the past. So come on, now, let's get you to that river and clean you up! I'm sure a queen as regal as you would feel so much more at home without all that grime on her skin."

Admittedly, that was true. Elsa stared down at her hands, observing all the numerous scratches and patches of dirt that stampeding through the woods for hours upon hours tended to give someone. She imagined that her face looked quite similar to the mess of her palms and inwardly cringed, pulling a few leaves out of her hair as she did so. Being this dirty felt like wearing another set of skin… and at the moment, she was perfectly fine with her original set. A bath would be much appreciated.

"So, Elsa," Bulda began as they weaved their way through a maze of intimidating oak-trees. "How's my baby Kristoff been recently? Has he been washing regularly? Have you been checking to make sure he scrubs behind his ears?"

Bulda was Kristoff's adoptive troll mother, which was pretty hard to forget when she was constantly fussing over him like a seven-year-old boy. Not like Elsa could blame her, though; ever since Anna and Kristoff had gotten married and he'd moved into the castle—with much coaxing, Elsa might add, considering he was not at all accustomed to the wide, open spaces and formal, decorated interior of an actual palace—his visits to the troll village had decreased by half, and she supposed that Bulda was going through some type or form of 'empty-nest syndrome'.

"Sorry," Elsa said sheepishly, laughing a bit in the awkwardness. "I haven't asked Kristoff about his bathing-life recently… I'll make sure to bring it up the next time I see him."

"You do that," Bulda said proudly. "He's a good boy, but sometimes he just needs a woman's hand to guide him in the right direction. Anna is a sweetheart, but not quite as mature as you. Keep an eye on him, will you?"

Elsa smiled. "Of course I will. Kristoff is one of my closest friends."

Five minutes later, the two of them had reached the endless trail of flowing water they had destined out for, guarded perfectly by a wide canopy of trees.

"Here ya' go!" Bulda announced. "Clean that muck off ya' and then you can go have that talk with Pabbie. He's got a lot to tell you… and I won't lie, not all of it is going to be stuff you'll want to hear."

Elsa nodded, immediately slipping off her shoes and pulling out her braid so that her hair flopped freely down her back. It all felt so good she barely even _noticed_ the anxiety building up in her stomach. Or maybe she was just pointedly ignoring it. After all these years of concealing, she could seldom tell the difference anymore.

"Thanks, Bulda."

Bulda nodded and smiled, but didn't budge. Not an inch.

"I'm going to bathe now."

She still didn't move. Just stood there and watched her, as if unable to understand the social customs that usually accompanied the act of cleaning oneself up.

"_Bye_, Bulda!"

Nothing. Elsa sighed deeply.

"Um, not to be rude, but would you mind giving me some privacy for a little while?"

"Hmmm?"

"Privacy. To clean. Can you… leave, please?"

Bulda just stared at her curiously for a second, but moments later she simply burst out laughing.

"I remember when Kristoff first asked me if he could bathe on his own. It seems like just yesterday I was wiping the dirt from his little face… but oh, don't worry sweetie, I'll give you some time alone if that's what you want. You humans are so finicky when it comes to bathing. Just meet me back where we started from when you're finished, and I can lead you to Pabbie from there."

She left—a smile still on Elsa's face as she imagined how red Kristoff would get if he could hear his mother telling her embarrassing stories about his childhood—and gratefully, the queen stripped off her mud-soaked clothing and submerged herself in the river water.

It was slow and steady process, but before long she had scrubbed every inch of her skin, holding her just-as-muddied clothing underwater so as to avoid dirtying herself again once she put it all back on. Her outfit was soaked, obviously, so she laid all her garments out in the sun until they dried, did the same thing with herself, and half an hour later she was dressing again and feeling considerably more relaxed than she had been since the whole 'invasion' thing had started. Also, she was clean, so that was a major plus.

"Done, Elsa?" Bulda asked as the queen walked out from behind the trees and approached her, a noticeable amount of tension drained from her shoulders. She nodded plainly, and soon the two of them were walking through the woods in an entirely different direction, going towards what Elsa assumed was the rest of the troll population.

…

"Queen Elsa! Queen Elsa!"

"Ooh, I didn't know you were visiting!"

"Can I try on your crown?"

"Make it snow for us!"

"Did you make that dress all by _yourself_?"

As soon as she stepped into the clearing, Elsa was bombarded with questions from all different angles. The sun was brighter than it had been in the shade of the trees, and as she squinted and blinked in the light, a blur of small, grey bodies swarmed her like bees to honey.

"Oh… um… hello, kids…"

The troll children. So small and fluffy and unbelievably adorable. Their big, round eyes bore down on hers in a way so terrifyingly innocent, and their curious smiles blinded her more than any mere sun ever could.

"Queen Elsa," one little troll girl said, reaching upwards and tugging on the hem of the queen's dress. "Can ya' do the magic for us?"

For some reason, this reminded her of Anna, and seeing that the girl was probably still in the clutches of her worst enemy, this only made Elsa sad.

"Uh, I'd love to, but I actually sort of have to talk to Pabbie right now, and—"

"_Pleeeaaassseee._ Just real quick, okie-dokie?"

Well how on earth could Elsa say no to _that_ face? She spent the next fifteen minutes putting on a full-blown snowflake-show for every member of the troll village. Even the adults stopped what they were doing to '_ooh' _and '_aah' _with the rest of their children, and by the time her spectacular was finished, almost every single face was dressed in a wide, joyous smile... and that including her own. It was strange, but for a single moment—miles and miles away from the castle she'd grown up in—Elsa almost felt at home. How that happened, she had no idea.

"Okay, okay everybody," Elsa murmured as she crept out of their clutches, pushing their little hands off her dress as gently as humanly possible. "I really have to go see Pabbie now. I'll show you some more later, okay?"

"Okay," said the little girl. "But come back soon! You're really fun!"

_Fun_. Well Elsa had certainly never been called _that _before, but she couldn't say she didn't like it.

When she finally reached Pabbie's tent—a grass-woven tarp propped up by a series of rocks and sticks—she found him just sitting there cross-legged at the entrance, appearing as if he'd been waiting for her since the moment he'd left her to bathe.

"Ah, Elsa. After everything you've been through lately, I'm glad to see that you've had time to relax."

"Um… yes, yes I did. Thank you."

He said nothing, simply nodded and gestured to the floor in an invitation to sit down. Elsa did not hesitate to accept it.

"Bulda said you have something important you need to tell me."

Another nod, then a sad shake of the head, as if he already regretted what it was he was about to say.

"Yes I do. The problem is, I'm just not sure where to begin."

A worthy concern. Elsa remembered wondering the same thing the night that she sat down with Anna and informed the girl of her entire, complicated childhood. Finding where to begin was always the hardest part. Compared to that, the rest came easy.

"Start with anything," she insisted, trying to help him out. "Just something simple. So the first thing that comes to your mind and go from there."

Pabbie looked down at his feet for a moment—as if willing this specific something to appear—and then gazed upwards at her face.

"The first thing you should know, Elsa, is that there are two different forms of trolls. Us… and well, you've met the others."

Oh yeah, that was easy enough to figure out. Pabbie and Tedar were two very, _very_ different creatures. It was hard to believe they were of the same species, much less actually…

"Wait a second, Pabbie, Tedar told me that you and him were brothers! How is it that even—?"

"Elsa, do you have any idea how old I am?"

Elsa blinked. Then blinked again because once wasn't enough for such a strange, out-of-the-blue kind of question.

"Not really."

He smiled at her, and his eyes twinkled with slight amusement.

"Well, I have no intent on telling you. But you should know that both Tedar and I are the very first of our kind, and we were derived from the same… mother, to put it simply. We had our differences, so we split, but a hundred years ago or so—"

"You're more than a hundred-years-old?!"

"A hundred years ago," repeated Pabbie, ignoring her outburst of surprise. "Long-buried feelings arose, and our tribes came into conflict. The war was long and gruesome, but we eventually became victorious, and I… I thought they were extinct. It was foolish of me. All along they were in hiding, building up their forces so as to strike back when we least expected it, and now they finally have."

Elsa nodded at this, but then tilted her head as a question whizzed across her mind. "Then why are they after _me_? What do I have to do with it?"

He looked at her sadly this time, and she saw that he did not want to tell her what he was about to say next. But he did it anyway.

"You're… powerful, Elsa. Much more so than you realize. They need an un-defeatable weapon to destroy us, and they wanted that weapon to be you."

Her? A weapon? Well that was an uncomfortable thought.

"But… but I would… I would never just—"

"I understand, Elsa. You're a good person. You would not work towards the advancement of any unmoral beings no matter the benefit, and I'm sure they knew that when they came to you. It's why they're holding your village hostage instead of just killing the lot of them, though this is something I'm sure they could've done with ease. They're doing this because they want to capture your interest, your attention… play with your fears in hopes that you will find yourself stuck in such an unsolvable dilemma that you'll be forced to volunteer your magic to them. But you should know by now that you're not the only one with powers."

_Clearly_. Elsa remembered the strange, noxious gas that had flowed from Tedar's hands, and the horrifying effect it had had upon her people. The worry, the fear, the hatred it had caused them… memories flashed across her mind, and she struggled not to cringe.

"Slave trolls," Pabbie began to explain, and Elsa recalled the way Tedar had also used the terms of 'slave trolls' and 'free trolls' to describe the two parts of the species, "Have the ability to control human minds. Not so much to turn them mindless, but to alter their perception of reality so that they believe in something that may or may not be completely false. I have no doubt that, originally, they came to you hoping to '_convince'_ you of the righteousness of their cause. But Tedar made the grave mistake of forgetting one crucial fact. His powers only work on humans, and since you're not fully human—"

Elsa's jaw dropped.

"WHAT?!"

"Hardly important right now," Pabbie replied in that cool, calm voice of his, blowing off her shock "What's important is what exactly they _did_ when they approached you and your people. Would you mind filling me in on that, Elsa?"

That last statement still burning in the back on her mind, Elsa reluctantly nodded and explained, recounting the events exactly as she could remember them. The collapse of the wall, the 'negotiation' that Tedar had insisted upon, the lack of weapons, the green gas, the yelling, the screaming citizens, and then… well, waking up and being tied to a stake. Anna the only sane person left, and having no choice but to go with the mob and let the crowd watch her burn. Strangely, Pabbie nodded the whole way through her speech, looking at her with an expression of deep understanding .

"Your very presence—that moment that you touched her shoulder the way that you did—it must've helped Anna keep her mind in reality. Her love for you played a crucial part, I'm sure; there's no other way she could've not became one of them. Kristoff is the only human who's resistant, and that's only because we give all our troll children special training so as to become more powerful than the gas."

"Kristoff?" Elsa asked curiously. "He wasn't affected? Then why did he just let them tie me up like that?"

"Kristoff is a smart boy," Pabbie answered calmly. "He knew that if he blew his cover as a mind-controlled citizen, he would be locked up just the same as Anna was, and he would be no use to you then. He must've pretended to be another one, which is a great benefit to you now. So long as he doesn't get discovered, he'll be able to send us messages and update us about the behavior of the Slave Trolls, so we can always be one step ahead of them."

"About that," Elsa began, curiosity getting the better of her, "Why do you call them the Slave Trolls… and yourselves the Free Trolls. What's the point of that? I can think of far more descriptive terms…"

Very slowly, Pabbie shook his head. "Not the time for such questions, I'm afraid. We'll come to them when we come to them."

There was something very odd about the way the troll-king kept blowing off all the things she asked him. Was there something he didn't want her to know? A secret he was trying to keep from her? What was the point in that? After all, she _was_ directly involved in whatever plot Tedar had in mind… didn't she have the right to know?

"I'm sorry, Elsa," Pabbie said suddenly, and she knew that he must've sensed her contempt. "But this is all for the best. Trust me; you'll understand everything in time."

_All for the best. _The same thing her parents had said to her so many years ago when they'd separated her and Anna, locked her up in her bedroom, and forbid her from ever using her God-given powers again. The very thought made her shiver, but she tried to hold off on her discomfort for now. Pabbie was wise. He was kind. He knew what was _actually_ for the best. And as much as Elsa loved them despite their many faults, he was not her parents. She could trust him.

After a few minutes of soft, tepid silence, Pabbie decided it was time to continue with his explanation.

"If you want to defeat the Slave Trolls, Elsa, then you can only do one thing. Find the source of their power—the mind control, the same source that they are using to hold your entire village hostage—and defeat it. Lucky for you, we've already done the first part. But it's up to you to finish up the job. You need to kill a demon."

Kill… a… _demon?_ It would be an outright lie to say that this was something she'd been expecting.

"As much as we wish to," Pabbie continued tentatively, taking in the horrified expression spread across her face, "The trolls and I can provide no further assistance in this task. Unfortunately, the same demon that gives the Slave Trolls their magical abilities has the power to taint us Free Trolls—turn us into evil beings just like Tedar—if we get too close in radius. So to maintain our sanity, we've moved from our original camp and settled here… somewhere we hope the demon will be unable to find us."

Oh yes, that explained the fact that the trolls were out of their usual village and bumbling around out here. But that still didn't explain _everything_.

"How did you even _find_ me?" Elsa asked. "I was in the middle of some strange woods just outside the North Mountains, and I actually wasn't even too far from the Slave Trolls. You shouldn't have been able—"

"The Slave Trolls themselves do not affect us; it's only their demon, which currently resides somewhere very far away, safely protected by quite the large number of their soldiers. As soon as I realized that they had their powers back, I marched my village up here to see if I could stop by and warn you in time, but it was no use. Green smoke was already going up in the air, and fearing the demon's approach, I dragged my family out into the woods to hide. It was only by coincidence that we found you on out march, and since you appeared to be in very bad condition, I had little choice but to put a sleep-spell on you. To keep you sleeping and healing while we carried you back to our camp-site and nourished you up. It may have worked a little _too_ well, I'm afraid, You've been asleep for a week now."

A _week_. That was way too long… but God, now that she thought about it, that spell-thing explained a whole lot. Like the way she had slept through being picked up and brought somewhere new, and the way it had been so extremely difficult to wake up this morning, and the way that even _now_ she had that fuzzy feeling in her brain that told her to lay her head back down onto a bed of grass and drift peacefully back into her dreamland. These feeling were all too different than usual to be phenomenons that were occurring naturally in her body.

"A week is a long time, Pabbie. How much has happened since then? Have you heard from Anna or Kristoff? Has anybody gotten hurt?"

Yeah, sure, it was a lot of questions to ask at one time. But how could Elsa help it? This was her _kingdom_ they were talking about. The very thought of anybody in it being harmed—_especially_ Anna—made her very blood boil.

"Oh, they've moved now. They know that we've got you, and that we would warn you about the demon, so they're currently using all their forces to surround and protect it for once you come. Kristoff sent us a message a short while ago… he said that Anna is okay, but they keep her under close watch, so he has yet to show her that he's able to overcome the mind-control. It's clear they know how much you care about her, given the amount of attention they seem to be putting on your sister."

Elsa nodded, her forehead furrowed up in worry.

"I just hope they don't do anything to hurt her."

"They won't, Elsa. She's a much more valuable tool alive than dead."

Good as his intentions were, this statement did not make the queen feel any better.

"So," Elsa began slowly, trying to drain her buzzing nerve. "I just have to find this demon… and kill it? That's all?"

He nodded.

"Well where do I even begin?"

Fast as lightning, Pabbie turned to the side, grabbed a thick, age-worn book that rested on the ground, and then turned back. Opening it up, he pulled out a loose, yellowing piece of paper and handed it to her, allowed her eyes to skim over its crumbling, inked surface.

"A map," Elsa said simply.

"Exactly. A map."

There was silence again, and this time Pabbie was the one to break it.

"Follow that, and it will lead you to exactly where you need to go. Kristoff informed us in his letter what area the Slave-trolls were going to, and since we've mapped the land long ago, this should take you exactly where they're hiding."

Elsa skimmed it over again, eyeing all the many dots and dashes that marked the page.

"This doesn't look very specific. The area is huge... the demon could be anywhere!"

Pabbie laughed a bit at this, but she didn't understand why.

"Don't worry yourself, Elsa, I'm sure you'll have no problems finding the demon. It just-so-happens that this creature can take many forms, but its favorite is that of a large, black-scaled dragon.. so it's not hard to miss. It is also nearly unstoppable by any mere mortal, but lucky for us, you are far more than just that."

There it was again! His insistence that she wasn't a pure human, that she wasn't an actual _mortal, _that she was somehow something _more_. What did that even mean? What else was there to be? Before Elsa could voice her concerns, Pabbie continued speaking, allowing these questions to fade away in the back of her mind.

"I understand that this is a lot to take in in such a short span of time… please, feel free to stay as long as you wish and think over your option. I know this must be very overwhelming for a queen as young as yourself. Know that your bravery is not lost on me."

_Psssh_, bravery. Elsa rarely _ever_ felt brave, especially not in a time like this one.

"How do I kill the demon, though? What am I even supposed to do? Does it have any specific fighting strategies I should know about? Any weaknesses? Any holes in its armor? What about—?"

"I'm sorry, Elsa."

The queen looked up at him, confused.

"I cannot tell you any of that just yet. But you will know it when the time is right… I swear to you."

There was something about his expression as he gazed upon her—those caring eyes, that worried forehead, that flash of deep, overwhelming gloom that emanated off his very being—that made her keep quiet. Now she wasn't even sure if she _wanted _to know.

Very slowly, Elsa pulled herself up from the ground, kneeling forward a bit in the low-height of the tent.

"Thank you, Pabbie, for your insight into this situation. I think I'll stay here one more night or two—just to make a plan—but as soon as possible I'll try and head out. The sooner this is over, the better."

Just as she was opening the flap to pull herself into the fresh, forest air, the troll-king spoke up.

"One more thing before you leave, Elsa. The Slave Trolls do not have souls… and without that, they are merely representations of all that is evil, barely living things at all. So do not fear killing them… it is not murder. It does not make you a monster."

Elsa nodded and stepped out of the tent fully, allowing the flapped-door to fall closed behind her.

_Killing_ them? Pabbie's last words ran themselves over and over again across her mind. She was going to have to _kill_ them? How on earth would she manage to do…

Oh, wait. Of course she would have to kill them! What was she even thinking? This was a _war_, after all, not a tea-party! People died in wars. People killed in them. That was just the way it worked. When she had prepared her people to fight their approaching enemies, what had she been expecting? Of course, the thought of actually _killing_ them hadn't really crossed her mind, but she'd known deep down that it was going to happen. She'd _known. _So what was the problem? No, she'd never actually ever killed a person before, but did it really matter? These were bad people, and as Pabbie said, they weren't even people at all. Just representations of evil. Killing evil was a good thing, wasn't it? Of course it was! It was a good thing. It was most definitely a good thing.

So why did she feel such an uncomfortable twist in her stomach at the mere thought of it?

"Hey! Hey Elsa! You and Pabbie done with your talk yet?"

Elsa looked around. She saw nobody. Then she tilted a head about fifteen-degrees downwards and caught sight of another troll.

"Oh.. hi Bulda," she said cooly, trying not to reveal the tension within her. "Yes, we just finished."

"Oh good!" Bulda exclaimed in that typical cheery voice of hers. "Well then I have some good new for you! You have visitors!"

Visitors?

"Who on earth would know to visit me in a place like this?"

Bulda smiled at her, amusement shining from her eyes. "Why don't you go and take a look?"

...

Five minutes later, Elsa was back in the main square of the trolls' hideout, staring open-mouthed at the sight before her.

There was Olaf, waving hello to all the many troll children who'd grown to love him over the years. There was Marshmallow, his large size and intimidating appearance attracting the attention of all the other trolls who were now meeting him for the very first time. And there was—who else?—her assistant Dustin, shifting awkwardly behind them both and looking like he had no idea what on earth he was doing here.

"Hi Elsa!" Olaf shouted enthusiastically as he spotted her across the sea of trolls. "We've been looking for you everywhere!"

Looking for her? How come—

"Mama!" boomed Marshmallow suddenly, and soon he was bounding towards her, each step an earthquakes on the forest floor. Out of pure affection for the creature, she put up with the slight crushing-sensation as the giant snowman squeezed her to his chest, slightly amused by his overexcitement.

When he placed her gently down, Elsa immediately turned to the curly-haired boy in front of her, knowing he was the only one who'd be able to logically answer her questions.

"Dustin? What are you doing here?"

He seemed relieved that she was talking to him, probably because Bulda had jumped up on a rock and started combing through his curls, commenting loudly on the cleanliness of his hair. His cheeks were very clearly flushed.

"Uh… it was Kristoff. He told us to go and find you. To help you with… with getting everyone back to normal, I guess. It sort of us took us a while to get to you… but here we are."

She blinked at him, still not understanding.

"But how are you still sane? Almost everybody else hates me now… why didn't their powers work on you?"

He did not respond immediately.

"I… I don't know, honestly. I have no idea. It just didn't work."

That seemed about as far as he could go with his explanation. His voice faded away, and Olaf's piped up to take its place.

"When you went unconscious, all the other snowmen except Marshmallow and I fell down!"

"Really?" she asked, generally curious. "And what did you do?"

She figured this had something to do with the fact that all those other snowman had been too deeply connected to her to continue living when she wasn't consciously putting effort into it and telling them exactly what to do. Olaf and Marshmallow were the only one's who had developed into actual independent beings over the years, so it made sense that they had survived her fall into unconsciousness while the others hadn't, but it still must've been pretty scary to see all others of your kind collapsing around you. It had been for _her_, at least.

"We almost went to save you," the snowman exclaimed excitedly. "We were gonna stop them from tying you up."

"Oh? Why didn't you?"

"Kristoff told us not to. He said it would make it worse for you, and that you could fix things by yourself!"

Elsa wasn't exactly sure what to think about that. On one hand, it made sense—if the trolls had made her wall collapse, they could destroy her _other _ice creations, too, and Kristoff wanted to protect them as much as anyone—but on the other, what if she _hadn't_ been able to fix things herself? Did he really believe in her that much? Was that even smart?

"Ah, good, good," said a voice suddenly, and Elsa turned around to see that Pabbie had come out of his tent to see the commotion going on. "Now you'll have some soldiers to help you with your task. This makes things that much easier."

Elsa thought about this. She thought about it as Olaf played around with all the troll children later that day, making them laugh and giggle in that special way that all children—human and troll alike—seemed to be able to do. She thought about it as Marshmallow followed her around like a loyal guard-dog for hour after hour, roaring to protect her every time someone even looked at her in a way he considered wrong. She thought about it as Dustin sat down with her on two adjacent tree-stumps and talked out a detailed plan over the map they'd gotten of the area.

It was only when she went to bed that night—laying peacefully under a pool of glittering stars—that she really understand how true that was.

Having those three here with her was going to be a _whole_ lot of help. Olaf would remind her to smile when things got too serious. Marshmallow would jump out to protect her when things got too dangerous. And Dustin—her assistant for years, now, and someone she never made a decision without—he would bring the reason into any illogical decisions she might make. Help, help, help. She hated to ask for it, but she needed the help more now than even _Pabbie _knew.

Olaf, Marshmallow, Dustin.. this rag-tag group of followers was by no means the impressive Arendelle army she'd had under her control just last week, but it was still all she had access to, and when she really, truly thought about it, she really couldn't think of anyone better. Sure, maybe it could've used Anna or Kristoff to spice things up a little bit, but with them unavailable this was _still_ a group of family and friend that she loved and cared for. That she _needed_ and relied on. And who could ask for better soldiers than that?

And besides, if she was going to save Anna—if she was going to save her entire kingdom—then she was going to need as much help as she could get.

And even then, nothing was assured.

* * *

**Well... that was it! I hope you liked it! I promise you, next chapter is going to be a lot more exciting. Please review and tell me what you thought :). **


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